UKC

The dreaded day has arrived, I’ve been summoned back to the office. I’ve been happily working at home since 2015 so am dreading commuting. I don’t even live in Sheffield anymore. 35 miles away unfortunately.  I don’t even have a suitable vehicle so need to buy a new car as public transport isn’t going to work. Boooo! 
 

any tips? Where is cheapest to park? Is the depot a fun place to be at 6am? Im impressed it opens that early. Might just drive there, climb and then run/cycle to work (2 miles). Can you park near the depot for free? Not sure they’d be happy with me dumping my car in their car park all day Whilst I’m at work. I could ask really nicely, it’s a big car park and I’d be gone by 4  

Traveling in from were and to where? You mention parking at depot and being gone by 4, so what hours will you be working?

Sheffield traffic isn't nearly as bad as many cities (although I'll get interested to see the impact of the new clean air zone in pushing vans onto residential streets), however trying to cross the city during the traditional rush hour period isn't fun. 

North of Nottingham. But too far north to get into notts to get the train to Sheffield. Office is near corporation. I can work whatever hours I like as long as I’m there a few days a week. I usually (on the odd occasion I actually went the office) worked 7am —> 3am. But I could climb till 8am and get to work by half past. I just parked where ever as the cost wasn’t an issue as I only went in once every 6 months. Or possibly even less. 

Tram park and ride

https://www.travelsouthyorkshire.com/en-GB/LandingPage/Sheffield-Park-and-R...

It won't seem so bad if you're only doing it through your notice period.

Flexibility is good, experiment with different times but I suspect getting in early and leaving before traffic builds is the best option. 

Oh and make sure your new vehicle isn't going to get hit with congestion zones charges - currently it's planned that cars will be except, but vans will pay unless they have a Euro6 engine. The planned zone includes the inner ring road, so is going to be difficult to avoid.

Well that’s pretty much exactly what it’ll be if I can’t deal with the commuting. Which I’m fairly sure I’m not gonna be able to.  Fortunately I work in an area where there are huge shortages of skills and there are lots of jobs, mostly remote. 

I didn’t realise there was a congestion charge on the way. It’s highly likely any car I buy will have an eu6 engine but probably isn’t going to be a small engine. I would imagine cars would get caught up in it sooner or later. 

It's a good time to change job anyway, land yourself a local job with a big pay rise. Firms aren't giving pay rises to their staff but are raising the offers to incomers by 20%or more for scarce skills. 

Agreed but I like my job and have a contract that will only be bettered in terms of pay. Everything else, most of all my leave entitlement which I value above my salary, won’t even come close. Well unless I go contracting and only work half the year. Which is an option but I’m quite disorganised and don’t like the sound of a constant cycle of job applications and the overhead of running a one person limited company.  I lose my marbles when I have to do a single simple expense claim at work. 

You could easily get a cheap membership at the climbing hanger (20min walk from corp street) do a session first thing or after work and be on the right side of town for getting onto the motorway home.

I'd seen the signs about congestion charges, but cars are exempt.

I live on the west side of town and cycle every day. Rush hour traffic is bad in school season. Some people who commute by car park on side streets and then get a Brompton bike out of the boot. It saves the last 30 min crawling through traffic (it's 5 min on the bike) and means parking is free. It does mean identifying a safe parking place though.

You also get to keep fit with all the hills!

Yeah that’s kinda my plan. Well not the Brompton! A scooter would be ideal apart from the obvious down side of looking like an absolute bellend (and then being illegal). 

I climb at The Depot at 6am sometimes so you'll have some great company 😅

There's some free parking near The Depot by Park Hill Flats. It's a short walk through the train station and over to Corp.

Running the Ltd company isn't bad - an accountant will keep you on track for about £100 a month, just make sure they include access to a simple to use accountancy software package for inputting your side of things.