Parking in North London
 

I'm an american living in the UK (Peterborough way). I'd like to park on the end of the piccidilly line and take the tube in to spend the day with my sister who's arriving from Heathrow. I've searched online and can't find any definitive answers on what is the best station to park in. I have been told to park around Manor House, as there's lots of free local parking around. Can any londoners or locals or know it alls give me any advice? Thanks in advance.

Why not just get the train direct from Peterborough to King's Cross ?

Caoline has given you the best station to park at.

Offhand, I can't think of any free daytime weekday parking around Manor House tube station, and I'd suggest you ask your knowledgeable contacts to tell you where they think this mystic beast is.

In fact, I can't think of ANY free weekday parking within half a mile of ANY tube station in the London area, except for a handful of tucked away spots half a mile or so away from some obscure stations that are virtually impossible for most people to find.

A few hours on the web might help you: go to http://tinyurl.com/ayrdy, then click on each borough in turn. Go on to the sections with names like "transport", then the parking section, then the .pdf map of controlled zones. Without exception, as far as I can see, ALL the outer boroughs have controlled zones for the whole 800 yard radius around their tube stations.

You might do better checking the parking facilities at the suburban stations served by GNER. Go to the nationalrail site, select "stations" then check the facilities at stations close to the A1(M) like Welwyn or Stevenage. Or park at Brent Cross shopping centre, then get the bus to the nearest tube station.

But most of these strategies will take you longer, and cost at least as much, as getting a train from Peterborough.

Meggles

I would second Caroline's suggestion which is the quickest timewise and probably costwise as well bearing in mind Peterborough to Kings Cross is only 45 minutes in time whereas the car journey will be 1 hour 30 plus and then a 30 minute tube ride.

However if you still want to park on the end of the Piccadilly line you could do a lot worse than Cockfosters which has a big car park and the cost of parking I believe is £3 for a day. It is also a very quick 5 minute drive from Junction 24 of the M25.

There are no Piccadilly line station car parks which are free and free parking near stations is difficult because of parking permits and traffic wardens

thanks everyone for your suggestions. when i go down to london solo- i usually take the train from peterborough or wellingborough (near work). fast and pretty cheap if i buy tickets online in advance.

the reason i was thinking of parking at the end of the tube line is that i was planning on going into london on saturday morning, my two sisters are flying into heathrow saturday morning, we were going to spend two nights in london, and then drive up to peterborough on monday afternoon. i thought the train fare for (1) round trip (me) + (2) one ways (2 sisters) would be a bit more expensive.

in the past i've parked at the end of the northern line, at Colindale. There's a small car park there. but I've usually parked nearby in residential areas. It’s not permit only, resident only parking, and I’ve never had a problem. I was looking for an area on the end of the Piccadilly line, as the hotel we’re staying at is on that line.

Hum… let me price up what the one round trip + 2 one ways tickets actually cost.

now i have a friend telling me that parking around the arnos grove tube stop is doable. can anyon second this recomendation?

I may be off the central subject here, but had to have a place to vent about parking tickets in London! WATCH OUT!
We left our nice Hotel ( St.Margarets) just off Russell Square on a rainy morning end of June, parked our rental car for just enough time to quickly load 4 people and bags, and were too dumb to notice that there was a parking meter ( be wise to ask your hoteliers about parking) and were immediately slapped with a 50 pound ticket for failing to pay the meter. The Meter man was very rude, made no eye contact and refused to answer questions or allow us to walk 5 steps and pay the meter, no way, you are ticketed now, deal with it. So my husband immediately contacted the proper office to question and protest, and was told if he wrote an email, he would get a response, and by contacting through email, he would be waived the 10 day pay period as stated on the ticket,~~ if you don't pay in that time the ticket fee doubles. So we were balking at paying $100 American , and checked on our status a couple of times. We rested in believing our 10 days was waived, and in "getting a fair trial" so to speak.
Think again. After some time we forgot about it, having not heard a reply back from the London City parking authorities. Surprise, in Nov we recieved an invoice for charges from our rental company, Hertz for more than double , so our final charge on the credit card was $247.50!!
Lesson here, next time I will know to feed the meters very quickly, maybe before parking, and if I do get a London ticket, believe nothing they say, pay the price of the day! It will be much cheaper in the end!
Kim in Happy Camp

Kim: Not a lot of parking meters in Siskiyou county - huh? :)

Now - why ON EARTH were you driving in London anyway????

There is (paid) parking at Arnos Grove station but be warned that the spaces are EXTREMELY tight - the tightest I've come across and I am USED to London parking as I live here.

It's also NOT an area I'd want to leave my car parked in overnight - assuming the station would even allow it as you have to pay and display and I don't think the machines allow you to select a period of more than a single day.

If you're happy with the Northern Line parking you've used in the past I'd stick to that and simply change at King's Cross. If you're going to spend time exploring London you'll be changing lines all over the place anyway.

Or, if the prices aren't too disparate (don't forget to take petrol costs into account) I'd take the train to and from Peterborough even with your sister in tow.

Kavey: Meggles was looking for N London parking nearly a year ago.

Ah... didn't notice the original date since the thread had been topped and seemed active.

Wondering why hckim dug up an old and buried thread!!!

Oh well...