Mizter T wrote:
On 16 Jan, 14:36, Paul wrote:
David Cantrell wrote:
Or further in. It's usually possible to park a couple of streets away
from stations like Streatham or Streatham Common
And if you're really lucky it will still be there when you return!

Absolute ********! Read my post above - people are so paranoid about
parking their cars in London it's silly.

Generally I agree, but you mentioned Streatham (though parts of
Streatham Common aren't too bad).

Thanks again for all the advice, which I've now discussed with my friends.
There's one bit of info that I was not aware of which makes Peter's
suggestion regarding parking near Purley and Mizter's regarding Anytime Day
Travelcards the most relevant (and which explains further my friends' wish to
drive part-way). Apparently, they want to shop at Wing Yip supermarket after
their visa trip to the Embassy! So all settled now, thanks all. Will.

In article ,
says...


On Fri, 16 Jan 2009 17:13:16 +0000, Will
wrote:

Apparently, they want to shop at Wing Yip supermarket after
their visa trip to the Embassy! So all settled now, thanks all.
Will.

The one in Purley Way or the one in Cricklewood?


Purley Way, but I'll let them know there's one in Cricklewood too!

On 16 Jan, 09:28, Peter Campbell Smith
wrote:

(Will) wrote ronet:

Friends want to go to an Embassy in Queensgate from East Sussex but
want to take the car to a railway station just outside London and then
catch overland train into London then tube to Gloucester Road. Can
anyone suggest somewhere suitable to leave the car, either (cheap!)
car park or quiet road not far from a station? *They're thinking
perhaps Croydon or near? *TIA *

When approaching via the M23/A23 I've sometimes parked in the residential
roads to the west of Brighton Road in Purley - eg Grovelands Road and
Downlands Road. *They are only 5-10 mins walk to Purley station.


Sounds like the kind of local knowledge the OP was after - going by
his reply that's one of the options he's communicated his friends.

One thing that crosses my mind about this is whether there would be
any trouble parking there in the morning, for example before the
residents leave for work and vacate their parking spaces? Looking at
the roads from a bird's eye image (via Live Search Maps [1]) it looks
as though the houses are quite spaced out and there's a lot of road
space - though just because there aren't many parked cars in these
images doesn't prove much as they may have been taken on a sunny
Sunday morning!


-----
[1] http://maps.live.com/
Search for Grovelands Road, Purley, UK or some such.

Yes, I was going to say that I don't ever recall anyone mentioning
"Croydon" and "Quiet" in the same sentence.

We don't often see postings by Roland with sense in the same mail, this
is a worthy exception.

Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 16:46:03 on Thu, 15
Jan 2009, tim..... remarked:
somewhere suitable to leave the car, either (cheap!) car park or
quiet road not far from a station? They're thinking perhaps
Croydon or near? TIA

You're not going to find reasonable "all day" parking in Croydon, and
the
roads are pretty clogged up in the morning.

Yes, I was going to say that I don't ever recall anyone mentioning
"Croydon" and "Quiet" in the same sentence.

On 16 Jan, 15:58, Paul wrote:

Mizter T wrote:

On 16 Jan, 14:36, Paul wrote:

David Cantrell wrote:
Or further in. *It's usually possible to park a couple of streets away
from stations like Streatham or Streatham Common
And if you're really lucky it will still be there when you return!

Absolute ********! Read my post above - people are so paranoid about
parking their cars in London it's silly.

Generally I agree, but you mentioned Streatham (though parts of
Streatham Common aren't too bad).


I simply disagree your notion that Streatham is a some kind of really
dodgy place.

Mizter T wrote:

I simply disagree your notion that Streatham is a some kind of really
dodgy place.

It's a Jekyll and Hyde place... The back streets of Streatham are nearly all
very pleasant... the High Road is full of people who look badly nourished.

On 17 Jan, 15:32, "John Rowland"
wrote:

Mizter T wrote:

I simply disagree your notion that Streatham is a some kind of really
dodgy place.

It's a Jekyll and Hyde place... The back streets of Streatham are nearly all
very pleasant... the High Road is full of people who look badly nourished.

That's more of an apt description.

I've never found Streatham railway station particularly inviting I
must admit - I think that's basically because much of the length of
the platforms is stuck in the gloom underneath the wide road bridge.

I do still like the fact that Streatham has an original high street
cinema, the Odeon. I went there not so long ago and it was perfectly
pleasant.

On 17 Jan, 16:57, Mizter T wrote:

On 17 Jan, 15:32, "John Rowland"

It's a Jekyll and Hyde place... [...]

That's more of an apt description.


Thinking about it, your Jekyll and Hyde line is a rather apt shorthand
way to describe a good number of places in London. I shall be making
use of it in the future!

On Fri, Jan 16, 2009 at 05:32:23AM -0800, Mizter T wrote:
On 16 Jan, 12:21, David Cantrell wrote:

Regarding supermarket car parks - most now threaten you with a 'civil
penalty charge' (or some such) if you overstay the maximum stay, and
the companies that enforce these restrictions on behalf of
supermarkets can get your details from the DVLA. I don't really know
the legalities behind this all and to what extent this can be
enforced, but I presume there's something in it. That said, this does
somewhat rely on the enforcement taking place - more often than not it
just seems to be a threat.

I would assume that for that to work, they'd need to actually post
information about it. The cheap-**** (I forget whether it was Aldi or
Lidl) supermarket in Streatham didn't last time I abused their
hospitality, although that was some time ago.

The one thing that many people appear to have issues with when it
comes to parking their car on side streets is some fear that it will
get broken into, stolen or vandalised. I think that, with regards to
much of London at least, this is a rather overblown concern.

Indeed. If it's a residential street, you're generally OK - after all,
the vast majority of the people who live there don't have their cars
broken into. I'd be more concerned by leaving the car overnight in a
car park where there aren't other people around, or parked on the street
in a small town - where, again, there aren't lots of people around.

Last point - one real issue with parking in somewhere like Streatham
is actually getting in and then back out again on the A23, which is
basically gets pretty clogged up at peak times. It is of course
possible to take a number of alternative routes to avoid the A23 but
these can be a bit involved and I'm not sure I'd recommend these to
people unfamiliar to the side street ways of sarf London.

The OP said they need to be in central London by 09something, so aim to
park in Streatham by 08something - shouldn't be *too* bad. Coming from
Polegate, I'd leave at 0630, and once in Streatham itself, take the
first left after the Aldi/Lidl and park somewhere around there. From
there it's a short walk to Streatham Hill station.

--
David Cantrell | Enforcer, South London Linguistic Massive

Fashion label: n: a liferaft for personalities
which lack intrinsic buoyancy