Driving and Parking

I got up to London last night, driving direct from work. It took me an hour to get from Bury St Edmunds to the junction of the North Circular Road with the A12. It then took 80 minutes to get from there into the city (near Southwark station). Utterly ridiculous.

[UPDATE : I actually did the maths/mileage on this last night : It was 70 miles from work to the A12, which took an hour. 70mph on the dot. It was 10 miles from the A12 to the Travelodge, and that took 80 minutes. 7.7mph.]

I’d planned to park in a close-ish NCP car park for the two days I’m here, which would’ve cost £18 per day. Better than lots of places, but not great. However, I couldn’t find that NCP carpark – and I tried twice, once in the car, once by foot. Fortunately, I knew I had options – I’d done my research.

As it was, I found a place right next to the hotel that cost me sod-all for overnight parking, so long as I was gone by 8am. By that time I’d gone down to the first of my two alternative options, found it was available, and done the deed. £20 for two days – yes, £10 per day – in a locked secure place. Bizarrely, it’s making use of some of the car-parking spaces in the building where I was working last year before I got the current job.

So I’ve managed to get 2½ days parking in central London (right by Blackfriars and the OXO Tower, for those who know/care) for £20. Pretty good by anyone’s standards.