The Lemon Fool

We have a campervan. We go places and stay in it.

We likemto fo to London to see west end shows, and museums.

Understanderbly hotel rooms and even Airbnb are £££ in central London (and TBH our last expereince of an airbnb in Soho was bloody poor - £160 for one night in a nice flat - had it actually been cleaned, despite pauing £60 for cleaning - and I presume the previous guests had too.)

So - DAK of a sort of "park on my drive" /airbnb parking space in central London where we could pop our van, sleep in it, not be in anybody's way etc for a night?

Ive tried to search on airbnb but I cant work out a suitable search term (and/or there are no such things of course but I cant tell!) - Ive also tried "park on my drive" but again finding the right search terms is poroving difficut (or there are no such spaces but I cant really tell).

ie if I entedn my search terms to the whole of the UK then I still get no hits - unless this is just not a concept anybody has.

I say central London so we are not fraffing around on tubes for miles late at night in particular, and TBH by the time we've spent 40 minutes on the tube to get to some suburb, we may as well just have a guest house at said suburb cos its cheap enough then.

I suspect i am wanting my cake and eat it

(i've also checked out campervan campsites in central London but there are none)

Of course - there is LEZ etc - FTR the campervan is a 2010 VW T5 19.Tdi diesel. So it could be that we arent even allowed to take it into central london of course!)




didds

I subscribe to a website (&app) which lists possible "wild" campervan spots. The only one it identifies anywhere near central London is on Windmill Road, Clapham Common.

Scott.

My gut feeling is that a camper van would not be very popular in central London but I can't think why. As a matter of fact they are not very popular in North West Scotland either and probably the same reasons would apply in Central London, only more so. They take up a lot of road space, those using them contribute very little to the economy, and they are a pain when parked quite often taking up 1 1/2 or 2 spaces.

I suggest that, especially if you are talking about one night only, you find a decent hotel, travel in by train and do your bit to help save the planet. There are enough polluters which need to be in Central London without you as well.

Dod

didds wrote:Of course - there is LEZ etc - FTR the campervan is a 2010 VW T5 19.Tdi diesel. So it could be that we arent even allowed to take it into central london of course!)

It might be simplest to check by keying in your registration number below but a quick glance suggests your vehicle may be allowed (at least before 26 October 2020). The penalties are substantial if you don't qualify.:

https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/low-em ... s-affected?

That doesn't mean you won't have to pay the Ultra Low Emission Zone charge which applies 24 hours a day, every day of the year. You can check your vehicle here:

https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/check- ... icle-35896

Then there's the Congestion Charge (see the same page) depending on when you are 'camping'.

Snorvey wrote:Chuck a few empty gas cylinders around, string out a washing line and tie a couple of mangy barking dogs outside and you can park up anywhere you like for as long as you like.

Maybe these guys had mute dogs:

https://www.hamhigh.co.uk/news/caravans ... -1-6105659

didds wrote:So - DAK of a sort of "park on my drive" /airbnb parking space in central London where we could pop our van, sleep in it, not be in anybody's way etc for a night? ...

I looked here https://www.justpark.com/search/ (no knowledge) and entered Euston as the centre of the search.

Scrolling out finds quite a few ranging from say £20-£60 but the only one I clicked on said cars only. Dyor obviously but their Driver Agreement https://www.justpark.com/driver-agreement/ includes:

v. In relation to your Booking with the Owner you will: ...

g. not use the Parking Space for any purpose other than for parking.

A search for "central London camping" came up with a list of official sites
https://www.visitlondon.com/where-to-st ... nd-camping

None are in Central London though.

The obvious and almost certainly illegal places would be in one of the Parks, particularly the larger ones with roads running through.

didds wrote:We have a campervan. We go places and stay in it.

We likemto fo to London to see west end shows, and museums.

Understanderbly hotel rooms and even Airbnb are £££ in central London (and TBH our last expereince of an airbnb in Soho was bloody poor - £160 for one night in a nice flat - had it actually been cleaned, despite pauing £60 for cleaning - and I presume the previous guests had too.)

So - DAK of a sort of "park on my drive" /airbnb parking space in central London where we could pop our van, sleep in it, not be in anybody's way etc for a night?

Ive tried to search on airbnb but I cant work out a suitable search term (and/or there are no such things of course but I cant tell!) - Ive also tried "park on my drive" but again finding the right search terms is poroving difficut (or there are no such spaces but I cant really tell).

ie if I entedn my search terms to the whole of the UK then I still get no hits - unless this is just not a concept anybody has.

I say central London so we are not fraffing around on tubes for miles late at night in particular, and TBH by the time we've spent 40 minutes on the tube to get to some suburb, we may as well just have a guest house at said suburb cos its cheap enough then.

I suspect i am wanting my cake and eat it

(i've also checked out campervan campsites in central London but there are none)

Of course - there is LEZ etc - FTR the campervan is a 2010 VW T5 19.Tdi diesel. So it could be that we arent even allowed to take it into central london of course!)




didds

You can use my drive if you like, which is in SE3. 20 minute train from charing cross & 10 minute walk.

Dod101 wrote: They take up a lot of road space, those using them contribute very little to the economy, and they are a pain when parked quite often taking up 1 1/2 or 2 spaces.

are we talking apples and oranges?

A VW T5 is under 5m long. A VW passat estate (car) is only 20 cm shorter. So hardly half a bay? Its the sort of van a tradesman might use as a light goods vehicle?

eg

versus






Or are you thinking I meant some huge winnebago style mothorhome?

I was certainly thinking of the standard campervans, not necessarily the large Winnebagos that one sees in North America. Anyway you do not need to justify your actions to me; just that I find all the talk of global warming and the banning of polluters from the cities rings a bell and I take the train for instance to my nearest city, partly for that reason and partly because I cannot be bothered trying to drive in the city and finding an expensive parking place.

Dod

i can think of a few reasons...

1) train fares x 2 people = LOTS more than 1 x van trip
2) expensive parking - hence the query about parkonmydrive etc intially. Versus a ro0om to stay in that frankly from our last London experience was a filthy rip off - £160 for one night in a place thatd espite a £60 cleaning fee hadnt been cleaned from the previous occupants (who presumably also mpaid the cleaning fee). The bath was unusuable.
.
3) concenience - removes flapping about on tubes late at night (as per inital post).

Of course reflected against global warming etc thern any movement in any fossil fuelled vehicle is "a problem".

didds

I think central London with the congestion charging and parking charges might be pretty impossible anyway. I now live in Zone 6, and we had a campervan parked on a residential street near us for about 6 weeks, presumably staying with friends who didn't have space (it was outside the 1 bed flats). Try a residential street, not somewhere extremely posh (where they might complain) and just park.

We used to live near Battersea Park when I was little, and we had a VW Caravanette, mostly parked outside our house (we slept in the house, but used it when visiting friends). There are grotty areas with high rise flats, and nice areas with houses and posher areas alongside the park. It's a short bus ride to Victoria, and you can get most places from there. I shouldn't think anyone would worry too much about you if it was 1 night!

Check out where is residential in Zone 2, and where the night buses & 24 hour buses run. Make sure you know the parking restrictions. Out in Zone 6, we have 1 hour a day when you can't park really close to the station, but in Zone 4 there were 2 hours during the day that were residents only, up to about 10 minutes walk from the station. Some areas limit you to 30 minutes parking on some streets near shops.

Looking at the photos of the van, maybe if you stick a few 24 hour Emergency Plumber signs on the side, you might get away with parking in London for an extended period (joke).

Another thought, which apologies doesn't follow your brief, but why not stay at a Travelodge out of town, e.g. Woking, (much cheaper) and then take the mainline train in from there. I have done that, and also stayed at the Travelodge in Southwark, within 100m of Southwark tube station.

Try sticking a few dates in the Travelodge website - my colleague has been staying in one nr Liverpool St and they are quite reasonable.
As the City empties out over a weekend I was wondering if the rates are better than in the tourist areas (Covent Garden etc)?

[edit: yes, just looked at Bank and Farringdon TraveLodges, - room for two adults <<£100 /night over a weekend. Book in advance and £75 is possible]

richfool wrote:Looking at the photos of the van, maybe if you stick a few 24 hour Emergency Plumber signs on the side, you might get away with parking in London for an extended period (joke).

Another thought, which apologies doesn't follow your brief, but why not stay at a Travelodge out of town, e.g. Woking, (much cheaper) and then take the mainline train in from there. I have done that, and also stayed at the Travelodge in Southwark, within 100m of Southwark tube station.

There is no parking at the Woking Travelodge. You have to park in the charged for multi-story next door.

Woking West Premier Inn does have parking and is about a 20 minute walk from the station. Similar for the Innkeeper's Lodge.

Slarti

I think I would be tempted to park in a ‘nice’ residential road (use street view to identify) a few miles out with unrestricted parking near a tube station....