London to Oxford: an hour and twenty on the M40, then a city with bus gates

Of the motorways leaving London, the M40 is the least troublesome. It carries less freight than the M1, it does not serve an airport like the M4, and the Chiltern section through the Stokenchurch cutting is genuinely pleasant to drive.

The consequence is a narrower time range than any comparable route. An hour and twenty is realistic most of the day, and two hours is the worst it does short of an incident. That reliability makes it a good choice when there is a fixed appointment at the far end.

Several streets in central Oxford are closed to private cars by bus gates, enforced by camera, and the arrangement has been extended over time. A driver who does not know where they are will collect a penalty and a passenger will get a long walk.

What works is a set-down at a known point on the edge of the centre and a short walk in. St Giles, the top of the High and the area near the station all serve different parts of the city, and the choice depends on which college or building you are heading for.

Two weekends a term, Oxford fills with families delivering or collecting students and a great deal of luggage. It is one of the busiest recurring patterns in our Oxfordshire work and it is entirely predictable.

A saloon takes one student and their term’s belongings at a squeeze. Two students, or one with a bicycle, needs the V-Class. The colleges have their own arrangements for vehicle access on move-in days and they are worth checking, because they change.

Oxfordshire spreads a long way from its station. Woodstock and Blenheim are eight miles north on the A44, Burford is on the Cotswold edge twenty miles west, Henley sits on the Thames to the south-east and Bicester is up the A34.

None of those are reachable from Oxford station without a further journey, and several of the schools and country houses in the county are a genuine taxi ride from anywhere. That is the part of this route where the car is not a preference.

The city has five park-and-ride sites on its approaches and a second station at Oxford Parkway to the north, which serves the Marylebone line and sits beside the ring road.

For some journeys, particularly during term or on a match day at Twickenham weekend, being driven to Parkway rather than into the middle is quicker and less bother. We would rather suggest that than deliver you into a queue on the Banbury Road.