All major car firms have locations all over London and directly at the airports. Regulations vary but in the UK car hire agencies require a minimum age of drivers and it is around 25 years. Foreign driving licenses are accepted. In case your driving license is not in English, an International Driving Permit might be necessary. To avoid any possible unexpected damage cost, we offer businesscars Super cover to reduce your excess. In addition businesscars Super Cover also covers damage to windscreens, tyres and the underside of the rental car. In the United Kingdom traffic drives on the left-hand side of the road. The UK is well known for having one of the world’s best road safety statistics which could be partly due to the strict speed restrictions: Speed limits are 30 mph (50 km/h) in urban areas (but it can be also only 20 mph near residential roads, town centres and around schools and nurseries), 60 mph (96 km/h) on roads away from built-up areas and 70 mph (113 km/h) on motorways. Keep in mind that the road signs and the speed limitations in the United Kingdom are in mph.

 

There are several major airports near London: London City Airport, London Gatwick, London City, Stansted, Luton and London Heathrow, which is Europe’s busiest international airport with around 9000 flights and over 60 million passengers a year. The number of passengers has been growing rapidly during the last century, therefore in 1958 Gatwick airport was built which currently handles large traffic of over 30 million passengers a year and became the second largest airport of the UK and the 8th busiest airport of the world. In 1986 a state of the art modern airport has been established in the north-west part of London and nowadays more than 8 million travelers arrive to Stansted a year. Several low cost flights land at Luton airport which is located 52 km north of the city. The airports of London have good road and rail connections to central London: from Heathrow the easiest option is to take The Heathrow Express train available from terminal one, two, three and five. From Gatwick Airport the Gatwick Express train operates every 15 minutes and takes you to Victoria station in London and from Stansted the Stansted Express train connects the airport directly to Liverpool Street.

 

In London business hours are officially Monday to Friday 09.00-09.30 until 17.00 or 17.30, although in practice these office hours last much longer. Punctuality has great importance when doing business with somebody from the United Kingdom. London has a strong trading tradition and during the last decades it has developed a great conference and exhibition sector. Information about upcoming events in London can be found at the following link: http://business.visitlondon.com/choose_london/calendar/ or http://www.conferencealerts.com/london.htm

 

 

London is one of the world's sprawling metropolises and largest financial centres. It is the capital of the United Kingdom, located in the South East region of England. During the last centuries London has significantly developed and expanded, and nowadays its metropolitan area has 7, 5 million inhabitants and its wider agglomeration is home of more than 12 million people. London has the 6th largest city economy in the world and it is a vital center of international business and commerce. London is home to several banks, legal and accounting firms and financial associations such as the Bank of England, London Stock Exchange or Barclays Stockbrokers. Over 50% of the UK’s top 100 leading companies and more than 100 of Europe’s 500 largest companies, such as HSBC or Reuters established their headquarters in London City. More information about London can be found on Wikitravel: http://wikitravel.org/en/London

 

Climate of London

The climate in London is temperate marine. There is precipitation all year long, it is mainly rain and rain showers because during the mild winters London's snowfall is below average, although in 2009 heavy snow covered the whole United Kingdom and Ireland. The popular term “London Fog” is often used to describe the foggy climate in London, in fact it runs only once in every two-three years and it is caused by tiny drops of water in the air reducing the visibility to less than 1,000 meters.

 

GMT (GMT 1 during Daylight-saving period between last Sunday in March and last Sunday in October).