Travelling to GOSH

You should bear in mind the following information if you are travelling to GOSH by car.

You will need to pay a charge to drive within the central London Congestion Charging zone between 7am and 10pm, seven days a week.

You may need to pay a fee to drive within the Ultra-Low Emission Zone in central London. You can find out more, including whether your vehicle meets ULEZ standards, on the TFL website.

Families who meet the criteria may qualify for reimbursement of travel costs.

There is no official drop-off and pick-up area at the hospital. Great Ormond Street is a Clean Air Zone. This means that drivers should not leave their engines running for longer than one minute while waiting outside the hospital. 

Great Ormond Street Hospital does not have a car park.

We are grateful to the London Borough of Camden for giving us parking permits so that carers bringing children to GOSH can park their car nearby.

• parking permits are available on the day of their use and can be collected from the main reception desk, which is located in the main entrance of GOSH
• parking is very limited so we ask that parking is used to only bring a patient to and from the hospital
• the parking permit allows you to park on Guildford Street​ 
• outside of peak hours (7am-9pm) you can use on-street parking

Visitors can get a parking permit from the following locations:

• Main Reception: Morgan Stanley Clinical Building, Guilford Street, London, WC1N E1H
• Falcon Outpatients: Zayed Centre for Research, 20 Guilford Street, London, WC1N 1DZ

Parking is only allowed on a single yellow line on Guilford Street. Parking permit should be displayed clearly on the vehicle’s dashboard. Please remember traffic wardens patrol Guilford Street regularly.

Blue badge holders can park in a bay (residents parking bays, pay and display bays, or designated disabled bays) for an unlimited amount of time. Parking is only permitted for 3 hours if you are parking on a single yellow line. The badge and the clock should be displayed clearly on the vehicle’s dashboard.

Find out more about Blue Badges on Camden Council's website.

Contact a member of staff at Main Reception or Falcon Outpatients if you have any questions around parking.

If you are given a ticket and want to appeal against it, please follow the instructions on the back of the ticket.

Walking is the cheapest – and can also be the most pleasant and fun – way to travel in London. To plan your walking route to the hospital from other locations you can use Google maps which allows you to search for the least polluted routes.

Watch the walk from the old GOSH entrance on Great Ormond Street to our alternative entrance on Guilford street, which will be in use from 19 February 2024.

GOSH is located near to several mainline stations, underground stations, and bus stops. The easiest way to plan your travel in London is to use the Transport for London (TfL) Journey planner. It allows you to plan routes between stations and postcodes. It also allows you to specify preferences for modes of transport (including walking and cycling) and accessibility requirements (such as step-free transport).

The train is usually the fastest way to get into central London. The table below shows the different options for getting to the hospital from different stations.

Several bus routes are a short walk from GOSH, and low-floor, wheelchair accessible buses run on all routes.

Two tube stations are a short walk from the hospital.

• Russell Square is the nearest (seven minutes’ walk) and is on the Piccadilly Line, with connections to Kings Cross Station. Watch the walk from Russel Square to GOSH.
• Holborn (a seven-minute walk) is on the Piccadilly line and Central line, with connections to Kings Cross and Liverpool Street stations. Watch the walk from Holborn to GOSH.

Please check the TFL website before your journey.

There are cycle racks on Queen Square, Great Ormond Street and Guilford Street. When these are in operation, you can hire bikes in London using Santander Cycles and there are docking stations all over central London, and all you need is a bank card to get started.

The nearest docking station to the hospital is on Guilford Street.

If you have issues with mobility and have trouble using public transport, you may be able to get subsidised taxi and minicab travel in London. The two schemes are called Taxicard and Capital Call.

London's traditional taxis (black cabs) can be booked in advance, hailed on the street, or picked up from designated taxi ranks. Black Cabs are also disabled friendly as they have access ramps to wheelchairs and will be willing to help those with disabilities.

The cheapest and easiest way to travel on public transport in London is to use a contactless payment card (issued by many banks) or an Oyster (pre-pay) card. Paying for a paper ticket can be several times more expensive than using these methods

Buses in London are now entirely cash-free, so use of a contactless card, and Oyster card, or a previously purchased paper travelcard is necessary.

Russell Square and Holborn stations are not easy for wheelchair users, as there are steps from the platforms. If you require step-free travel, it is best to use the bus or walk.

Low-floor, wheelchair accessible buses run on all routes.

Assistance at mainline stations is available for disabled passengers travelling on trains. It is best to give at least 24 hours’ notice so that they can make arrangements. 

Both The Morgan Stanley Clinical Building and Octav Botnar entrances are wheelchair accessible. From The Morgan Stanley Clinical Building there is a lift to the Lagoon.

We provide non-emergency medical transport where any other method of getting to and from GOSH would be damaging to the patient’s health.

Please ask your family doctor (GP) to arrange transport to GOSH if your child requires it to attend an outpatient appointment. If your child is coming for an inpatient stay, our staff will organise this. Unfortunately, we cannot accept bookings from anyone else.

For additional information on non-emergency patient transport services and whether you and your child are eligible, please see the NHS England website.