Jugling LHR Car Parks
 

In a couple of weeks we are flying out of T3 but return to T5. To get away quickly after our transatlantic return, we have chosen to use the T5 long stay car park. Outbound, we had planed to use the T3 short stay to check in and dump the bags (and the wife), then take the car around to T5 long stay. Intending to use the bus transfer to T5, I'd planned use the Heathrow Express / Piccadilly Line to get back to T3. I reckon that should take about an hour, from LS5 back to T3, but am a bit anxious that time might be short, having experienced delays in the past, particularly on the underground.

That said, I have just remembered that the T5 Long Stay car park's eastern exit is directly adjacent to the T2/3 Business car park. A short walk round, onto that car park and the bus, would see me back in T3 in less than half the time. Anyone, any idea if this would be permissible?

EDIT: Juggling!

Assuming no jobsworth sees you no problem - they never ask to see your car parking ticket on the transfer bus

And if they do ask you just say you got confused ............

Any service where you don't park it yourself and hand the keys over has unfortunately got a poor reputation in recent times at Heathrow and elsewhere for vehicles being left in fields, supermarket car parks, used as runabouts by staff, even getting parking tickets. I'm sure the mainstream operators are dismayed at all this, but if you do use such a service record the mileage on handover, take one with you and leave another prominently in the car.

The Underground generally provides a better T3-T5 transfer. The trains are more frequent, every 10 minutes maximum instead of every 15 on the HEx, and the stations are nearer the terminals. You need an Oyster or Contactless card to get in and out, but they don't charge you for internal Heathrow trips.

Can't one of the valet parking outfits (Purple Parking or the like) collect the car from T3 and drop it off at T5 ?? .. shouldn't be rocket science as they serve both and I'd argue for no change in price from the £100 ish for 2 weeks. Give 'em a ring.

Appreciate the potential issues with off site valet car parking but used to check the crumb trail; on the GPS in my old Jeep and it was inevitably taken the shortest route from T3 short stay to a compound a couple of miles away so got a bit more relaxed about it. Unfortunately the Audi's GPS doesn't lay a crumb trail.

Do you have a app for your car, used mine to check were the car had been parked when using valet parking at EDI recently

I've used Purple Parking and Heathrow Parking meet and greet many times. Never had a problem with them; no unexpected mileage, damage or dirt on the car. They will pick up from one terminal and deliver to another, and the car has always been ready on my return. I'm not affiliated with either of them in any way.

Good luck with the valet parking, I emailed them a few weeks ago asking if the car was stored under cover or in the open and have yet to receive a reply despite a reminder email sent earlier this week.
Last year I also flew from T3 but returned to T5, I booked the short stay at T5 as there was not much extra to pay compared to long stay or Pod. (Have you checked pricing?) An hour to get from T5 to T3 is sufficient, all things considered but there is no Heathrow Airport train service between terminals, you are using TFL services and you now have to remember to get a free ticket from the machine otherwise you cannot get through the barrier to board the transit train

Thanks Paul, I have booked LS5 and thought that popping next door to Biz2/3 would save an enormous amount of time, but I'll give myself extra time to get back to T3 via T5. If only T5 was big enough!

You could always take a short walk to the A4 Bath Road and take a bus from outside the Hyatt Place Hotel. There are several buses that go to Heathrow Central station. It will be free as it's within the Heathrow Freee Travel Zone.

I believe it's not that it is "big enough", or not, but that there is a Planning Restriction on T5 (but not the other older terminals) that it can only handle a certain number of passengers per year. 33 million seems to ring a bell, others may have the detail. This is why when flights are introduced into T5, others get moved over to T3. It's also why flights parked on the remote stands between T5 and T3 cannot all just be served by coaching from T5.

Thanks. I'm back now. What I hadn't realised was that the eastern T5 Long stay exits and the T2/3 biz exits are co-located alongside each other and although vehicles are segregated, there is no fence between the two car parks at that point. I asked a bus driver (nicely) if I could walk through and he pointed me in the direction of the stop I needed. The good news was that I was back in T3 in about ten minutes, the bad news was that my flight boarded two and a half hours late!

Thanks for reporting back RealFish, very helpful information. With all the recent delays I am reminded of that old parental saying, "Better late than never!"

I think that maybe a walk to the Bath Road bus stop may have taken almost as long as a walk though the tunnel? Is that permitted??

It therefore appears that you could park in any suitable car park and take a bus to any terminal from any airport bus stop - the OP won't be the only person who has used Heathrow and departed from one terminal but returned to another. I've done that myself both intentionally and unintentionally (when the BA computer fiasco struck and I was bumped onto another airline that did not return to T5 where my car was parked).

Glad it all worked out in the end for the OP. I shall be doing battle with T5 again within the week.....

There hasn't been any pedestrian access through the tunnels for many years.

HAL keep promising to reinstate cycle access (which might in turn mean that peds can share the same bore) but they are dragging their feet over this.