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

"Will" wrote in message
net...
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

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

You're going to have to look further out, Purely perhaps, or Caterham (I'm
outside my area of knowledge now!)

tim

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.
--
Roland Perry

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 15 Jan, 16:46, "tim....." wrote:

"Will" wrote in message

Friends want to go to an Embassy in Queensgate from East Sussex
but want 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

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

You're going to have to look further out, Purely perhaps, or Caterham (I'm
outside my area of knowledge now!)


Much the same as my thoughts, I'm quite sure there is somewhere that
fits the bill in terms of on-street parking, but I'm not sure where
that somewhere will be! There are of course more and more roads that
are now subject to parking restrictions, and obviously this is more
likely nearer stations. The other thing is define "not far from a
station"... my value of 'not too far' might well stretch to a ten
minute walk.

Sorry, that's not really very much help to you!

On Thu, Jan 15, 2009 at 04:46:03PM -0000, tim..... wrote:
"Will" wrote in message
net...
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
You're not going to find reasonable "all day" parking in Croydon, and the
roads are pretty clogged up in the morning.

You're going to have to look further out, Purely perhaps, or Caterham (I'm
outside my area of knowledge now!)

Or further in. It's usually possible to park a couple of streets away
from stations like Streatham or Streatham Common, or just abuse a
supermarket car park.

--
David Cantrell | Official London Perl Mongers Bad Influence

I hate baby seals. They get asked to all the best clubs.

On 16 Jan, 12:21, David Cantrell wrote:

On Thu, Jan 15, 2009 at 04:46:03PM -0000, tim..... wrote:

"Will" wrote in message:
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.

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

You're going to have to look further out, Purely perhaps, or Caterham (I'm
outside my area of knowledge now!)

Or further in. *It's usually possible to park a couple of streets away
from stations like Streatham or Streatham Common, or just abuse a
supermarket car park.


Absolutely true. There is a sometimes a belief that all streets in
London are subject to some kind of parking restrictions, which is
simply not true. However the number of controlled parking zones has
grown a great deal in recent years and indeed is still growing in
number, and if there aren't CPZs there are sometimes other
restrictions such as a yellow line only being in force for an hour or
two in the middle of the day that does the job at stopping all-day
commuter parking.

All that said, there are often side streets a little further away from
stations (and high streets) that are totally unrestricted. The other
thing that's quite often the case is that parking restrictions only
apply Monday to Friday, so parking at weekends are not a problem.

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.

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. Firstly,
theft of cars is not that common - most modern cars have immobilisers
which are pretty challenging to defeat after all, though it's true
that very high-end cars are stolen to order. Secondly, cars are
generally only broken into if there's a promise that there's something
worth stealing from them - putting bags in the boot so they cannot be
seen (even if there's nothing of value in them) and ensuring one takes
one's wallet or purse and mobile with them plus taking the fascia off
of an in-car stereo system wards this off. Thirdly, vandalism to cars
parked on street doesn't happen that often (and the chances of it
happening can be reduced by not parking in el dodgy street). I and
others have parked reasonable cars (not very high-end but not
rustbuckets either) all over London to no ill effect at all.

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.

"Mizter T" wrote ...
There is a sometimes a belief that all streets in
London are subject to some kind of parking
restrictions, which is simply not true.

Not totally, but in the more central boroughs, there are so many
restrictions that you'd be a fool - or have plenty of time on your hands -
to expect to park legally.

A stranger coming to Islington, for example, would drive around most of the
borough before finding a legal parking space. And probably find that it was
already taken. Where there are no yellow lines, there are resident parking
schemes over much of the borough.

Coming to Inner London, hoping to park for free, without getting 'local
knowledge' first, is poor advice.

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

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!

--
Paul