Simon Calder, also known as The Man Who Pays His Way, has been writing about travel for The Independent since 1994. In his weekly opinion column, he explores a key travel issue – and what it means for you.
Old Oak Common is a scruffy, ill-defined area at the top end of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, adjoining Wormwood Scrubs – itself ambitiously described as a nature reserve. Old Oak Common is also the name of the west London stop for High Speed 2 (HS2), the eye-wateringly expensive new line between London Euston and Birmingham. I imagine that, by the time the station opens, it will be called “West London Parkway”. But it won’t move any closer to the centre of the capital.
