Do taxi cabs in London take credit cards?
 

I am planning our first trip to London. We will fly into Gatwick Airport, take the Gatwick Express to Victoria Station, then a taxi to our hotel near Covent Garden. Will taxis accept a credit card? I will have cash available, but would prefer using a CC.

According to this URL:
http://www.london-taxi.co.uk/taxi/londontariff.htm
there is a 10% to 15% surcharge for use of credit cards.

You could get closer to Covent Garden with a First Capital Connect train rather than the Gatwick Express.

Absolutely. First Capital Connect (the through train to Bedford, not the Southern) to London Bridge, wait on the same platform for the next train to Charing Cross and depending on the amount of luggage you've got, you could walk it from there, or at least a taxi would be cheaper.

Totally agree - train to London Bridge, then on to Charing Cross. Which hotel? Covent Garden covers a pretty big area - part of it is practically on top of Charing Cross.

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions. First Capital Connect sounds like a good option. Our hotel is the Renaissance Chancery Court on High Holborn.

The chancery Court isn't in Covent Garden. The closest station is probably Farringdon - so I'd take Thameslink to Farringdon and then a short cab ride from there.

I just returned from London in March. We took cabs everywhere because we did not want to deal with tubes. None of the cabs had the credit card machine. It's an optional thing and some cab drivers don't want to buy the machine.

The Chancery Court is in High Holborn, near Holborn tube station.

From Gatwick, the most convenient station is City Thameslink (take the exit on Holborn Viaduct, NOT the Ludgate exit). There should be plenty of taxis passing there (about a 10 minute ride).

You could get a bus (8, 25, 242, 521) from stop R, to the left outside the station - but for that you would need to have sorted out your public transport tickets first.

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/gettingaro...aduct-2131.pdf

Just to clarify, what used to be called the Thameslink is now called First Capital Connect - it's the through train I mentioned before, but you don't change, you just stay on it to City Thameslink.

Oops. I see City Thameslink station is only open Monday to Friday. If you're arrivign on a Saturday or Sunday, go to Farringdon station, where a taxi is the only practicable option - that too should be about 10 minutes.