Parking Harlow or sawbridgeworth

[loggo]

In 2 weeks I have to come down to London for a funeral in Mare street Hackney and had planed to come from Worcestershire by train to Paddington/ Liverpool street and head North from there but it has been suggested to me that if I drive down I would avoid the problems of cancelled trains etc. My current plan is to park somewhere like Sawbridgeworth or Harlow and take a train South. As I haven't been to London for 20 years I am rather rusty on travel. Does anybody who live in the area have an idea as to whether this is feasible and if so what is the parking like mid-morning ?

[MJ85]

I tend to drive into London and use Just Park to park on someone’s drive, very close to where I’m going. Usually works out less hassle and cheaper than using the car and the train.

[loggo]

MJ85 said:

I tend to drive into London and use Just Park to park on someone’s drive, very close to where I’m going. Usually works out less hassle and cheaper than using the car and the train.

Hadn't thought of that one. Wasn't a thing back in my day. I'll take a look

[Vasco]

Don't use Harlow if you want the car to be there on your return....

[dontlookdown]

In your position I would do it all on the train. Just allow plenty of time, it's easy to kill an hour or two in London if you need to.

You could drive and park locally too, accepting that it will be quite pricey to park (don't forget CC, Ulez etc too. And watch out for 20 limits, bus lane cameras and LTNs if you haven't driven in London for a while).

The DIY park and ride thing can work, but mostly for regular trips. There is quite a lot of trial and error in getting the optimal multimodal journey, so for a one off it's easy for it to end up being longer and more hassle, rather than less. Also, traffic in town can be quite random and often worse than the delays on trains;)

[Wills2]

loggo said:

In 2 weeks I have to come down to London for a funeral in Mare street Hackney and had planed to come from Worcestershire by train to Paddington/ Liverpool street and head North from there but it has been suggested to me that if I drive down I would avoid the problems of cancelled trains etc. My current plan is to park somewhere like Sawbridgeworth or Harlow and take a train South. As I haven't been to London for 20 years I am rather rusty on travel. Does anybody who live in the area have an idea as to whether this is feasible and if so what is the parking like mid-morning ?

Up until last year I would regularly drive to Harlow and then catch the Stanstead express into Liverpool street, parking at the Harlow town train station car park was never an issue and it's a regular service.

Ignore the silly comments about your car getting nicked plenty of nice cars park there as they drive in from the countryside to commute into London.

[LeoSayer]

dontlookdown said:

In your position I would do it all on the train. Just allow plenty of time, it's easy to kill an hour or two in London if you need to.

So would I.

Once you're at Paddington it's quite an easy journey on air conditioned trains on Elizabeth line to Liverpool St where you can change to get London Overground to Mare St area. Well under an hour.

Paddington it's a nice spot to walk around the canal basin and have lunch.

Edited to add, just check rail websites for any planned strikes or engineering works before booking

Edited by LeoSayer on Friday 21st June 07:56