In message , Jarle H
Knudsen writes
This year‚s London vacation is coming up, and what do you know? The RMT is
threatening to strike when one of us is flying home from Heathrow.

We are staying in Walthamstow, near Bakers Arms (Lea Bridge Road/Hoe
Street/High Road Leyton intersection)[1]. The flight is scheduled for
0950am on Thursday, June 30.

If there is no tube, how do we best get to Heathrow? I assume other
services are not affected.

Despite what everyone else has said, it is possible to book a licensed
taxi (black cab) on a 'capped' fare direct to Heathrow.

How many people are there? If there are 3 or more then the price of a
taxi from Paddington to Heathrow is actually cheaper than taking
Heathrow Express.

I'm sue I could find a day driver t hat lives in that area to take you
for a fixed fee if you want me to (I'd have to get them to tell me the
rice first)

What I would suggest is that you leave Walthamstow well before 0630 as
there's bound to be a large amount of traffic.

On major advantage is that taxis can use the bus lanes to get to the
front of the queues quicker than minicabs or private vehicles.

Let me know if you want me to get someone to help you.

-----
[1] At the King William the Fourth Bar and Hotel, actually. A fantastic pub
we discovered last year, with their own brewery next door, Brodie's Beers.
Recommended!


--
Mike Hughes
A Taxi driver licensed for London and Brighton
at home in Tarring, West Sussex, England
Interested in American trains real and model?
Look here http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikehughes2011/

Despite what everyone else has said, it is possible to book a licensed
taxi (black cab) on a 'capped' fare direct to Heathrow.

Yes indeed: I've used this (to/from E5) when there were several of us
travelling at awkward times. But the OP did say "when one of us is
flying home" so I thought the price might be a bit steep.


--
Robin
PM may be sent to rbw0{at}hotmail{dot}com

On Jun 10, 9:36*am, JohnLon wrote:
On Jun 9, 9:38*pm, Jarle H Knudsen wrote:

This year s London vacation is coming up, and what do you know? The RMT is
threatening to strike when one of us is flying home from Heathrow.

We are staying in Walthamstow, near Bakers Arms (Lea Bridge Road/Hoe
Street/High Road Leyton intersection)[1]. The flight is scheduled for
0950am on Thursday, June 30.

If there is no tube, how do we best get to Heathrow? I assume other
services are not affected.

Maybe OverGround train service from Blackhorse Road to Gospel Oak,
then Overground train Service Gospel Oak to Richmond.
Then train from Richmond to Feltham, from Feltham 285 bus for
terminals 1,2,3, or 490 bus for terminal 5.
If you want Terminal 4 get either bus and get of at Hatton Cross and
get any Terminal 4 bus from there. All these services run frequently.
JohnLon

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha !!!!

Have you ever tried getting on the GOBLIN or the Stratford - Richmond
line when there is a tube strike on?

It is either going to be a minicab, or a bus before 5am.

"Paul" wrote in message
...

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha !!!!

Have you ever tried getting on the GOBLIN or the Stratford - Richmond
line when there is a tube strike on?

As it happens I have - and even posted a note about the experience to this
newsgroup on 14/6/2009. It was a struggle to board a train heading for
Clapham Jumction at Gospel Oak, and it would have been impossible further
west. The NLL service has been improved significantly since then but I
would still expect it to be very overcrowded on tube strike days.

Martin

On Jun 10, 7:07*pm, Paul Corfield wrote:
On Fri, 10 Jun 2011 01:36:21 -0700 (PDT), JohnLon

wrote:
Maybe OverGround train service from Blackhorse Road to Gospel Oak,
then Overground train Service Gospel Oak to Richmond.
Then train from Richmond to Feltham, from Feltham 285 bus for
terminals 1,2,3, or 490 bus for terminal 5.
If you want Terminal 4 get either bus and get of at Hatton Cross and
get any Terminal 4 bus from there. All these services run frequently.

While that is actually quite inventive it is not exactly quick. There
are two other significant issues - the first train on the GOBLIN is
not until about 0630 from Leyton / Walthamstow so probably too late.
The other factor is that the Overground is already busy and becomes
horrendously overcrowded and runs late during LU strikes. The GOBLIN
trains are only 2 car DMUs so there is not a lot of flex. *The NLL /
WLL has an enhanced timetable now but even so I would expect it to be
*very* busy if there is a LU strike.

If the traveller / OP wil have luggage then they will certainly not
enjoy the long and steep stairs down and then up at Gospel Oak nor is
Richmond particularly well set out for people encumbered with luggage.

--
Paul C

This is one of the problems with tube strikes.

You can use the journey planner to find a route that doesn't involve
the tube (along with thousands of other people) but the journey
planner does not take account of the fact that other modes of
transport will be very overcrowded.

For example, the OP could probably get away with getting a bus to
Walthamstow Central and getting on the 05:19 to Liverpool Street, but
what is he going to do then? With no tube at Liverpool Street there
will be a queue for any taxis and buses that are running.

During the tube strikes of autumn last year I had to get from
Walthamstow to Kings Cross. I ended up getting on the N73 at 04:25,
and that was considerably busier than normal at Blackhorse Road. By
the time it got to Seven Sisters there were no seats left, and when it
got to Kings Cross at 5am people wanting to get on to go to Victoria
were unable to board.

So my suggestion for the OP to get on the 55 from opposite his hotel
at about 4:00 or 4:30 still stands.

ALL public transport is severely overcrowded on tube strike days. So are the main roads.

The most sensible way to arrive at Heathrow unstressed and in good time is to go by cab - hackney or minicab - and to go early. Far better to arrive early and spend time drinking coffee or whatever than to arrive late.

On Thu, 9 Jun 2011, Jarle H Knudsen wrote:

This year¢s London vacation is coming up, and what do you know? The RMT is
threatening to strike when one of us is flying home from Heathrow.

We are staying in Walthamstow, near Bakers Arms (Lea Bridge Road/Hoe
Street/High Road Leyton intersection)[1]. The flight is scheduled for
0950am on Thursday, June 30.

You could consider spending the last night at a hotel near Heathrow. That
makes the tube strike on the 30th a non-issue, and enables a much more
civilised morning - up at 0730, quick shower, hop on a bus into the
airport, check in, leisurely breakfast, and away. None of this getting up
at 0500 business.

However, the strike starts at noon on the 29th, so there is a still some
challenge in getting to the hotel. You could get a train from Paddington
easily enough; perhaps you could come into town on the tube before noon,
dump luggage somewhere (no idea where, though), spend the day in town,
have dinner somewhere around Edgware Road, then head off to Paddington by
bus, cab, foot, or Boris Bike to get the train.

tom

--
SOY! SOY! SOY! Soy makes you strong! Strength crushes enemies! SOY!

In message i, at
18:02:11 on Sat, 11 Jun 2011, Tom Anderson
remarked:
dump luggage somewhere (no idea where, though)

Most of the large termini have (fairly expensive) left luggage offices.
Including Paddington, on platform 12.
--
Roland Perry

On Fri, 10 Jun 2011 19:55:13 +0100, Roland Perry wrote:
Although the alternative suggestion of booking a cab to Paddington (for
Heathrow Express) has some merit as well.

What is the cheapest alternative, cab + HEx or cab all the way?

--
jhk

In message , at 20:11:48 on
Sun, 12 Jun 2011, Jarle H Knudsen remarked:

Although the alternative suggestion of booking a cab to Paddington (for
Heathrow Express) has some merit as well.

What is the cheapest alternative, cab + HEx or cab all the way?

Given that the primary reason for HEx's existence is to be cheaper than
a cab, and there's apparently only one person travelling, I suspect HEx!
But this may only be true for black cabs rather than minicabs.

If minicabs are going to be difficult because of the tube strike, I'm
coming round to the idea of getting buses to Paddington as early as
possible. (Then HEx).
--
Roland Perry