Would I be able to work in London and live elsewhere?

Question

I would like to go and work in London, because of better money and better jobs in general.

I live in Birmingham at the moment, i do know of people travelling to work daily from other citys just to work in the capital.

I wouldnt mind getting up at 6.45am and being in London for 8.45am, there abouts.

As i dont drive i will also have to rely on trains for the daily commute to work, I would quite like a train journey each day.

But would employers mind that i lived so far away, and i am relying on public transport.

Also does anyone know of any type of train pass that allow you to travel on trains from Birmingham to London and to use while in London aswell? If not i will have to get an oyster.

Any advice is great guys, Look forward to your replies.

Ben

Answer 1

Ignore the comment about the three types of day tickets - if you were to take the step of living in Brum and commuting to London, then you would get a season ticket. I certainly wouldn't suggest you drove - even if you could drive - for at either end you would be involved in horrendous jams - and this ignores the question of where you would park in London. In my view, it is irrelevant to an employer where you live. Provided you get in on time and do your work, they will be satisfied.

I agree with the comments about it being tiring, however. You say now, in the spring when it is light, that you would not mind leaving at 6.45am. Would you feel the same on a

winter's morning, when it is dark, possibly icy or snowing? And don't forget also, that the further you travel, the more magnified delays become. In other words, if you have a 30 minutes commute and leave work at 5.30, but your train is delayed by 30 minutes, you are still home round about 6.30 with the full evening in front of you. If you have, say, a 1hr.30mins commute home to Brum and, say again, the overhead line is brought down for any reason you will be faced with an indefinate delay, or a traipse to Marylebone or Paddington to use alternative services (if 1st Great Western, X Country and Chiltern will accept your season ticket), taking themselves much longer and very crowded because of all the Euston passengers travelling that way and it may be 10 or 11pm before you get home and your evening out is completely ruined.

Many people who live long distances out of London actually have a place to kip during the week and only travel home on Friday nights.

I'm not saying don't do it, just think of all the possible pitfalls before you do. And, of course, check the price of your season ticket to see if the higher wages paid in London actaully make the exercise worthwile!

Answer 2

I suggest by your question you are young  so no employer would employ a junior travelling that distance

Answer 3

Are you sure you will manage to do this?  2 hours each way means that you are spending 20 hours a week on the train.  You may like it at first, but after a few months it will get boring very quickly.  I suggest you reconsider this.

Answer 4

People do travel from Birmingham to London on a daily basis, but it is very, very, very tiring.

Also, travelling from Euston to your place of work might take 30 minutes or more in the rush hour (depending on where you worked).

As to whether employers would be happy it varies with different employers and different jobs.

No, I don't think there is a combined season ticket - you would need an Oyster card for tube and bus in London. You can put your Oyster card on auto-top up, so that it automatically tops itself up from your bank account when the balance falls below £5. You can also put weekly or monthly tickets on your Oyster card.

Hope this helps.

Answer 5

actually by the time they modernise the WCML it will take just over an hour from birmingham to london(1hr 10). They've made now only 3 ticket fares, advanced, off-peak and another one (can't remember) so at least that won't be confusing.

Where abouts in birmingham do you live? If you live near rugby that takes under an hour to get to london on the pendolino (expensive though) London Midland also do fast services but stop at a couple more stations than the virgin trains