With one or two cases each that you can lift yourself, the direct train is the right call: Southern, Thameslink and Gatwick Express all accept up to three pieces per passenger at no extra charge, and Gatwick, Victoria, London Bridge and St Pancras are step-free to every platform. Switch to a car sized for your bags when you cannot lift the cases alone, when the journey involves a change of train, or when the station at the far end has its lifts out. Fares, times and rules below were checked on 2026-09-27 and can change, so confirm with the operator before you travel.
What each option lets you bring
| Option | What you can bring | Extra cost | Who lifts it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Southern, Thameslink, Gatwick Express | Up to 3 pieces you can carry and stow yourself; nothing over 1 m that you cannot carry alone | May apply above 3 items, for bags taking seats others need, or items over 1 m | You |
| National Express coach | One large case (up to 75×50×32 cm) or two medium (70×30×45 cm), each 20 kg or less, plus one soft bag up to 45×35×20 cm and 10 kg | £10 per extra item single if bought online, £15 otherwise; 3 extra items at most | Goes in the hold |
| Pre-booked car | Set by the vehicle: one firm lists 2 large cases for a saloon, 3 for an estate, 4 for a 5-seat MPV and 6 for a 6-seat MPV | Priced by vehicle size | Loaded at the kerb |
| SL7 bus (Heathrow via East Croydon) | No luggage hold; bags ride with you | None | You |
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The name on the train makes no difference to your allowance. Gatwick Express publishes the same three-piece rule, the same 1-metre limit and the same possible charges as Thameslink (source: https://www.gatwickexpress.com/travel-information/onboard-travel/luggage, checked 2026-09-27; https://www.thameslinkrailway.com/travel-information/onboard-travel/luggage, checked 2026-09-27). Paying £24.00 for it from Victoria, against £10.70 off-peak on Southern, buys no extra luggage room. All three want large items in the racks where a train has them and doorways, aisles and wheelchair spaces kept clear. Their luggage pages give no rack space by train type, so we do not quote one.
On the coach, hard-shell cases, wheelie bags and hard-framed rucksacks are not allowed in the cabin and go in the hold without charge. A folding pushchair also travels free on top of the allowance.
Which trains have wheelchair spaces and accessible toilets
GTR publishes wheelchair spaces and accessible toilets for each of its train types, carriage by carriage. The same file has no luggage-rack figures, so it cannot tell you how many cases a train takes; what it does show is where the spaces are that your bags must be kept out of.
| Train | Most common length on our routes | Wheelchair spaces | Accessible toilets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gatwick Express (Class 387) | 8 cars | 4 | 2 |
| Southern (Class 377) | 8 cars | 4 | 2 |
| Southern (Class 387) | 8 cars | 4 | 2 |
| Thameslink (Class 700) | 12 cars | 2 | 1 |
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Sources: GTR-11042025-Fleet-Accessibility.xlsx, dated 2025-04-11, and, for the lengths, 2026-27 P05 GTR Passenger Loading.xlsx, trains counted between Gatwick and our far stations from 2026-07-26 to 2026-08-22; both from Govia Thameslink Railway, checked 2026-09-28. A 4-car Southern or Gatwick Express train has two spaces and one accessible toilet. The step-free guide says which carriage they are in.
At Gatwick: trolleys, lifts and the shuttle
Trolleys in both terminals take a £1 or €1 coin, returned with the trolley. They are not allowed on the station platforms, so the last stretch to the train is yours to wheel.
The platforms are below the concourse, and National Rail lists lifts only for platforms 3 to 6. If the screen puts your train on platform 1, 2 or 7 and your cases are too heavy for the stairs or an escalator, ask the concourse staff, who are on duty around the clock; the terminal-to-station guide has the lift details.
From the North Terminal you can keep your trolley on the free inter-terminal shuttle, which takes trolleys and any luggage.
At the far end
| Station | What to expect with cases |
|---|---|
| London Victoria | Step-free to every platform, and the main-line platforms are level with the main entrance. Taxi ranks on Wilton Road, at Terminus Place and at Victoria Coach Station. |
| London Bridge | Lifts to every platform. Thameslink uses platforms 4 and 5; exits on Tooley Street and St Thomas Street. |
| St Pancras International | Lifts to every platform; the street entrances are level with the lower concourse where Thameslink runs. |
| Brighton | Step-free to every platform. The taxi rank is at the back of the station, not the front entrance. |
| East Croydon | Long ramps of about 60 m at roughly 1 in 10 reach every platform. Lifts from the Lansdowne Road and Dingwall Road entrance run 06:00 to 00:00, but National Rail showed them out of order on 27 September. |
| Heathrow by rail | A change at Farringdon, then Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3. Both are rated step-free to all platforms with lifts (source: https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/farringdon/, checked 2026-09-27; https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/heathrow-terminal-2-3-rail/, checked 2026-09-27), but you lift every case off one train and onto another. |
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Left luggage at the airport
Gatwick has no lockers. The Excess Baggage Company runs two desks before security: in the North Terminal on Level 1 next to Costa Coffee, and in the South Terminal on Level 2 behind check-in zone E. Both open 04:00 to 22:00, so a bag left for an early flight cannot be collected before four in the morning.
| Time stored | Price per bag |
|---|---|
| Up to 3 hours | £10 |
| Up to 24 hours | £15 |
| Up to 48 hours | £27.50 |
| Up to 72 hours | £40 |
| Each further day | £12.50, falling to £10 after 7 days |
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Two bags for a day cost £30, more than two off-peak Southern journeys to Victoria (£21.40), but less painful than towing cases round a city on a layover.
Two or more large cases each: what to pick
Direct train to Victoria, London Bridge or St Pancras. Fine if each traveller can lift their own cases onto the train. Both ends are step-free and three pieces cost nothing extra. Avoid the weekday rush if you can, when racks fill first.
How full the train is matters more than the allowance once you have several cases. GTR’s load-weighing counts (rail period 2026-27 P05, trains weighed as they left the station between 26 July and 22 August 2026) show where the squeeze is. On weekdays, Thameslink trains leaving Gatwick for London Bridge and St Pancras between 07:00 and 09:00 typically carried enough people to fill 87% of their seats, and 45% of the counted departures had more people aboard than seats. Coming back, Thameslink trains leaving London Bridge for Gatwick between 16:00 and 19:00 had more people than seats on 63% of counted departures. The Gatwick Express between Gatwick and Victoria never passed 4% of counted departures with more people than seats in any weekday time band; its busiest, leaving Gatwick between 07:00 and 09:00, filled 52% of seats.
The coach only stays cheap with one big case. The lowest online fare to Victoria Coach Station was £6.00, but a second large case adds £10 bought online, so £16.00 each, against £10.70 on Southern off-peak with no luggage charge. The coach wins with heavy bags to Heathrow instead, because it is the one public service that keeps your cases in a hold with no change of vehicle.
A car when you cannot lift the cases alone, when three or more of you share, or when a change of train is involved. Check the case count behind the quote, since several published saloon prices cover only two suitcases. Examples: a Brighton firm’s estate for £65 to the airport, a Croydon estate for three or four bags from £52, a 6-seat MPV with six cases for £168 from Heathrow (Brighton, Croydon, Heathrow). Use the break-even calculator to see where the car starts to beat the train for your group.
If you are disabled, injured or older, Southern, Thameslink and Gatwick Express staff can help with up to two items, each no bigger than 30×70×90 cm, within the station only. Book it as part of Passenger Assist; the step-free guide covers how.