Due to the disruption to rail services as a result of the tunnel incident, I now need to drive to a meeting near junction 4 M25 on Wednesday morning. I will be joining the M25 from the M40. Is in better to go clockwise north of London, or go past Heathrow anti clockwise and approach from the south?
I need to be at J4 by 10.30am, how long do I need to allow to get from the end of the M40 at that time of day?
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I'm about 200 miles away, but reading previous threads on similar topics I seem to remember that the Dartford Crossing is always heavy, so you may be better off crawling past Heathrow and going south rather than north.
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Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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Oh dear. Nasty.
M25 south (A/C) from J15 to J11 will be locked solid.
J15 to J23 will be nose to tail clockwise, and again J30 to Dartford crossing toll booths.
Of the two, I would do A/C south, two hours from j15 to J4
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I would give serious thought to trying to re-set the meeting for 9am and getting a hotel nearby the night before. Then you get a head start on the way back. Or a motorbike.
Either way is horrendous, no good answer, as said previously I would go anti-clock because of the Dartford tollbooths but remember that way you have the millennium long roadworks between 15 and 12. They do flow slowly if everything OK but one accident in the road works and your screwed. Got stuck there once for three hours because a generator fell off the back of a transit. Thanks to the muppet who didn't secure it properly!
Make sure you have a good map/satnav for junction hopping if you need to.
Good luck.
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Why not drive to a station with services to an alternative London terminus?
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Yeah, not sure of your exact situation but have you ruled out the train? Chelsfield, Knockholt and Orpington Stations are not far from JCN 4, and the latter has links into Charing Cross, London Bridge, Victoria etc.
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Driving past Heathrow is the lesser of two evils but as others have said , it only needs one minor incident and you can be stuck for hours....
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Likewise JCN4-5 - seem to be serious accidents/hold ups there every week. Why not let the train take the strain :)
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Assuming that you mean the fallen Tescos, then drive to Oxford, Banbury or Maidenhead depending on where you are [all on a different line], and take the train.
You really, really don't want to use the M25.
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You really, really don't want to use the M25.
Totally agree, you are talking about over 100 miles there and back on the M25 at busy times, the chance of getting held up somewhere on that route is minimal.
But then again, what are the chances of a trouble free journey involving two trains and a tube each way?
You pays your money and you takes your choice.
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>>But then again, what are the chances of a trouble free journey involving two trains and a tube each way?>>
A damn sight better than using the M25 I would have thought...:-)
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Thanks for the advice all, I think I'll try my luck on two trains and a tube and aim to book a seat on a train from Coventry - good job someone else is paying.
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Hotel option probably cheaper than the train and a lot less hassle.
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I assume you mean you were going to go in on the Chiltern line so why not:
Go over to Amersham , Chalfont or Rickmansworth and get the Underground in to Baker Street
Or
Get the Chiltern Line Aylesbury branch , from Gt Missenden , Amersham, etc into Marylebone, which I assume is where you were heading?
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Just had an email - meeting postponed, phew!
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>>>Just had an email - meeting postponed, phew!
Now thats what i call lucky!!
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Its not what you drive, its how you drive it! :-)
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It's a sad reflection on the state of our transport infrastructure when every comment on this thread is totally negative about the M25 and not much more encouraging about the trains!
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Except that I suspect that it is little or nothng to do with the M25 or the trains and a whole lot to do with what is now standard behaviour in this country - particularly amongst motorists.
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I do use the Chiltern Railways service from Warwick Parkway to London most months and haven't had a problem yet, I understand they have won awards for good service, so the Tesco tunnel incident is a real blow. The service to Birmingham is excellent too and plenty of parking (motoring link)!
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