day trip to london, parking advice would be great.

[carol3]

hi all, wonder if you can help. Would like to plan a day trip to london on friday and need a cheap place to park or train, we will be coming from m4 direction. Also how easy is the tube with a buggy ? any advice would be really appriated as i havent been to london for ten years.

anyone

OK, I left london 2 years ago but still occasionally go in for the day. Most tube stations have either lifts or escalators (the escalators have nice long runoff's so a lot easier than those in shops. One tube station to avoid unless their are two adults is South Kensington as it is all stairs, unfortunately the one for the National History museum, science museum and the V&A, i have also found that passersby don't help you whereas elsewhere you do get people helping every now & then.
I would get the train in as parking in London is h*, or drive into zone 3 and park on a side street.
Busses can be awkward - the new style ones are OK as the are designed for disabled access but the old style ones insist that you fold up the pushchair. This could be a problem depending on the age(s) of your child(ren).
How old/heavy are they?

Carol3, parking in London is a nightmare and very expensive (probably £3/4 per hour in an NCP type place + congestion charge if you come into more central London). Many residential areas require parking permits too.

The tube isn't too bad with a buggy, especially if you have another adult with you. It's the stairs/escalators which I find difficult on my own. If you have a baby, a sling would be easier.

If you come by train would Paddington be your station?

If you have a toddler I would recommend minimising your stuff to one bag so you can fold the buggy for stairs if necessary

Otherwise at the bottom or top of stairs make eye contact with the nearest able bodied person and say "excuse me, would you mind helping me?"
I have never been refused help ever

I drive to London but it's always from the north (M1). I park in Edgeware - it's the end of the Northern Line so is dirt cheap to park (about £2.50 for the whole day IIRC in the Sainsburys commuter park)
Perhaps you could find which tube line ends nearest your direction in and find somewhere to park there? They must all be pretty similar in terms of parking demand?

thanks all, i have kids are 8, 6 and 2 so have a small fold up buggy so that should work then. We are going to legoland and camping nearby the day before so could drive to any stations on the outskirts of london, and train from there, just need to find somewhere i can park the car all day which is cheap then.

I quite often drive into London - it really depends what you want to do. If you want to drive into central London then let us know and I'll tell you the easiest place to park (it will prob be around £20+ for the day then the congestion charge on top).

whereabouts do you want to go once you are in London (because that will influence where you park)?

thanks, would like to do the natural history musieum

hi carol, there is a car park jsut down the road from there, it's a college car park or something, it is signposted and you can't miss it. It is exp though, I think we paid a total of about £12. Plus petrol costs on top, means it is easier to get the train in! If you are going to legoland you could get the train from ascot or somewhere, and parking all day at the weekend at the station is £1.10 IIRC.

and if you ahve a lightweight buggy it is easy enough to manage the tube. If there are stairs, I jsut pick the whole thing up! We get around fine.

you could park at Hounslow West and get the Picadilly line straight in

here's the NCP link - I would call them though because it has been YONKS since I've parked there and it may be harder to get a parking than I remember (think it is only £2.50). Also people use it to park for the airport (a nice and cheap option!) so I don't know if it is busier at this time of year!

normally I would say park in Hammersmith but the traffic is v bad there at the mo (a main road is closed) - maybe if that is cleared by then it would also be an option if you wanted

thanks great advice