how long in a cab from ED to Heathrow T5?

[pilsbury]

i need to be at LHR at 6.45am on Monday - I was thinking leaving at 6 would be sufficient time, but a cab company has just told me it will take 1hr20??? Surely that can't be right at that time in the morning?

[dita-on-tees]

You would be amazed! I was getting taxis to T5heathrow for 630 quite a bit over the summer and there is a point where traffic really starts to build and this is from 615-30. Depending on the route the driver takes and traffic it can take over an hour. Annoyingly the earlier you leave it the quicker it is (and significantly so).

[ClareC]

I would take the advice of the cab firm. Heathrow seems always to be an hour minimum!

[womanofdulwich]

partner gets cab 5am and takes 40 mins - but I know it does take much longer after 6am

[candj]

I would give it at least an hour. No matter which way the taxi goes, there will always be traffic through central London/Chiswick. And T5 is a tiny bit further than the rest of Heathrow.

[Applespider]

And if you are in T5, then you need to have scanned your boarding pass at security 35 minutes before the flight leaves or it will automatically bump you with nothing the staff can do to get you back on the flight so in that case better safe than sorry!

[pilsbury]

Ah shucks look like I'll just have to face it then! Thx amil for the assurance :)

[Huguenot]

It depends upon your route as well.

I always found the quickest way to Heathrow was actually to head into the centre of town - Camberwell New Road, Oval, Vauxhall Bridge, Victoria, Hyde Park Corner and then out on the A4.

Clean as a whistle.

Avoid South Circular at all costs. Even if you have to sacrifice a goat or shoot yourself in the leg to avoid it, it's worth it.

[JOHNNYtheGOONer]

I drove to T5 on Tue morning and I went the camberwell, vauxhall bridge route. It took me 1hr 35 but i did set off at 655am, not sure if this helps?

[pilsbury]

it does! it obviosuyl takes a helluva lot longer than i thought. will report back next wk after the expedition and let you know my timings for comparison :)

[SeanMacGabhann]

It?s not just that it can take longer than you think ? it?s the consequence of being late that makes the difference.

If you manage to do 3 trial runs of between 40-50 minutes but on the Day Itself, traffic is bad and it takes you 1 hr 30 mins, you can?t plead with the 747 in the air that Wandsworth was a MARE!

I allow so much time to get to an airport I can even go to the wrong one (let?s call it Gatwick) and still have time to get to the right one (let?s call it Heathrow) .

I hope I never have to do that again mind you

[dita-on-tees]

and T5 is a nice terminal so at least if you are early it is a nice environment.

[Magpie]

I always play it safe - allow an hour for the journey and aim to arrive 2 hours before the flight. On the one occasion where I left it a bit late, the taxi driver was late, and I was automatically bumped off the flight as I checked in 44 mins before the flight and not 45mins. No amount of pleading, whining, shouting, crying etc would persuade them to let me through an empty security as "Computer said no"

[karter]

My pennies worth- I did this from ED to T5 on Sunday leaving at 5am, Camberwell, Vauxhall Bridge, along the river passing Earls Court, left, then straight there, arriving 6.15am, plane landed 6.49, out of customs at 7.20 all good. Nice terminal, first time there but i found it to be stinky of fags (ciggies i mean).

[Ratpack]

It always takes me a minimum of an hour and half. I work that way and do the journey a lot.

[boomerang]

I commute to LHR for work and found that if you go via Camberwell, so long as your on that road before 6.30am you'll get a clear run to LHR that takes approx 35-40 minutes.... Remember you can use the bus lanes before 7am which reduces journey times significantly....

[ST&NLY]

http://www.theaa.com/route-planner/index.jsp

[pilsbury]

so just to report back as promised. cab picked me up at 5.25 and i got to into t5 about 6.10. what most pple have said above was corroborated by the taxi driver - if i were to leave at 6 instead of half 5 you'd need to add at least 30mins on to that journey time.

hope that helps pple in the future who are wondering :)

[omz]

How much does it cost, I was thinking of driving and parking didn't even consider cab fir some reason

[pilsbury]

sorry i got it through my work cab account so don't actually know...

[louisemurray]

I'm going away for 10 days and found parking at T5 - a little off piste mind you for 55 quid inc terminal transfers. Cost in a can Keane cars 38 out bound, 51.50 inbound

[Huguenot]

It's quite fun to price it up (if you're into that kind of thing of course).

The AA estimates the average ?15,000 car costs ?4,000 a year in Road Tax, Insurance, Cost of Capital, Depreciation and Breakdown Cover.

So ten days of that is roughly ?110.

Most cars average around 6 miles per litre, so the 50 mile round trip will cost you ?10

Running costs for things like tyres and maintenance is estimated at about 8p per mile excluding petrol, so that's ?4 for this trip.

So if you include the parking fees, then the real cost of having your own car and driving yourself to Heathrow for this ten day trip is ?179.

It's amazing how expensive running a car is. It makes taking journeys in taxis positively cheap in comparison!

[SteveT]

It's quite fun to price it up writes Huguenot

especially if you're a skinflint,

we know what you are,

because

if you were a rag 'n bone man and somebody asked what you did for a living, you'd say you're in textiles!

[cate]

louisemurray Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I'm going away for 10 days and found parking at T5

> - a little off piste mind you for 55 quid inc

> terminal transfers. Cost in a can Keane cars 38

> out bound, 51.50 inbound

Could you post the details of this please?