My wife and I and our daughter would like to attend a concert at the International Music Festival in Bath in May. London-Bath return train tickets would cost 105 GBP for the three of us. We could rent a car for one day at Heathrow for only 24 GBP. The concert lasts until 21:00. The car rental agency closes at 23:00. Viamichelin.com gives a driving time of 1hr50min. Is that realistic? Is the traffic likely to be "modest" at that time of night? Is there a reduced nighttime speed limit? How available is parking in Bath?

I don't know how large a festival it is - but if there is a crowd, count on a good deal of congestion. And there is always the chance of a wreck on the M4. I would definitely not count on getting to LHR before 11 p.m.

Driving/parking in Bath can be a problem, but normally it is easier in the evening.

But just getting out of Bath could easily take you 20 minutes.

Another option - some of the LHR rental agencies - Woods for one, are located in hotels and you can leave a car outside of normal operating hours. You simply leave the keys at the front desk.

If you decide to take the train -- Have you looked into day return tickets?

To Janis. Thanks for your help. I checked the Woods site, but didn't find any locations that allow a late drop off. Can you give me any further information? According to www.qjump.co.uk, a day return ticket is not available on the London-Bath route. I found Apex return tickets for the previous day, but not for the day we need (a Saturday).

Tim, when you say the car rental is only 24 GBP, are you sure that includes all insurance? I wonder if you start to add the cost of insurance, petrol and possible parking fees in Bath (it's very hard to find free parking there as I recall) how big a difference it would be to the train, not to mention the added anxiety of finding your way driving. And I assume you'll have to get to/from Heathrow from London or wherever you're staying?

I agree in general w/ mclaurie. The train would be a lot simpler.

As for Woods - all I know is last June I did that very thing. I rented a car from Woods and was returning it to their LHR location on a Sunday afternoon. When I picked up the car at LGW they specifically told me that if I got to their LHR location after closing to just leave the keys at the front desk - and that's what I did.

I would e-mail them or give them a call since you have a specific question that probably isn't answered on their website.

I suppose it is possible they have moved the location of their LHR site since last year -- but many agencies have out of hours procedures.

janis and mclaurie, I agree with both of you myself. Taking the train is a "no brainer." I'd rather not even think about the hassles involved in renting a car under the specific circumstances I've outlined above. The only reason for doing so is if the cost savings justifies those hassles. I think what it will come down to is deciding if this particular concert--which is being given by a choir we are dying to hear in person--warrants the price of train tickets. We can certainly use the money saved on train tickets to go to any number of wonderful events (theatre, concerts) right in London. And that is probably what we'll end up doing.