Excluding any stops, how long would it realistically take to drive from Gatwick Airport to York using the M road/freeways and driving prevailing speeds. This would be on a Saturday, I have figured the mileage but know that people drive faster than the posted speed limits. Thanks,

Hi stares,

Did you check www.viamichelin.com and www.mappy.com?

The RAC route planner
http://www.rac.co.uk/
says that it will take about 4 1/2 hours.
If I were you, I'd stick to the speed limits. There are a lot of speed cameras around nowadays.

If you are flying in overnight I would give yourself a good deal longer than the mapping sites estimate -- you'd need to take your time because of jetlag. But if you are just flying in from the continent I'd give it about 5 hours w/o any major traffic jams, etc.

But whatever you do - don't go the "prevailing speeds" or keep up w/ the speed demons. The authorities are VERY serious about speeding - there are cameras all along the motorways (and on many surface roads too) and you do not need to see a police car to get a ticket. If you are photographed, the rental car company WILL charge you the amount of the fine.

It's rare (possibly unprecendted) for Janis to make errors of fact. But motorways generally have speed cameras only where the speed limit is less than the national standard 70 mph for dual carriageways (= "divided highway&quot. When there is a <70 limit, speed cameras are ubiquitous, and almost always in operation. You WILL be fined.

Where the 70 mph limit is in force, it is almost universally ignored by cars (including the police, who won't interfere usually below 85 or so). Driving over 100 carries a high risk of temporary disqualification (yes, even for visitors) and shouldn't be done, even on clear morning on empty roads. Driving at 70 or below in in the outside lanes is dangerous: if you're going to drive slowly, stay in the inside lane.

This is why you absolutely should not drive in Britain straight after an overnight flight - especially if you're not used to our roads. It's a criminal offence to cause an accident through your tiredness. People spend several years in jail if a fatal accident occurs. It's virtually impossible for a non-European to have developed the reflexes for dealing with dense, fast traffic safely after they've been up for 24 hours.

Even if you stay a day at LGW, you should still allow 6 hours. The roads are generally (but by no meansalways) free-flowing on Saturday mornings, but from lunchtime on you'll hit a number of choke points. If you miss them, you might at a pinch get to the outskirts of York in 3.5 hours. I've never got from there to anywhere in York in less than 40 mins.

You can drive from Gatwick to York on motorway standard roads in 5 hours, the M25 bypasses london and is great outside peak traffic times, then go up the M1 not A1m and accross the m27.