When visiting the Royal Albert Hall by car, you can pre-book parking at the Imperial College carpark for around £8. It's handy and it's close to the hall

Be warned though, Westminster Council under-cover parking officers will be waiting for you. Everyone who has booked Imp College carpark has to queue to wait for the gates to be opened at 6pm (Prince Consort Road entrance), even if only for a few minutes. We did just this two weeks ago and wondered why a white van pulled in front of us, onto the pedestrian crossing and then parked, shortly to pull away again. The van turned around and sat behind other cars. Very curious. A week later we found out what the van was doing when the photo of us queuing was sent with a £60 parking fine.

The Westminster Council van was illegally parked on a pedestrian crossing and, if I had known, I would have taken my own photo because that was an endorseable offence that I would love to have reported to the Police. Their photo shows that they must have been on the crossing, but not in enough detail to support a prosecution. From the shot, it looks like the camera is on or near the top of the van, on it's nearside.

So, if you have booked parking at Imperial College, DO NOT QUEUE. Just keep driving round or try to get there after 6pm.

If you do see this van parked on the crossing OR on the zig zag lines, taking pictures, please take a photo wit5h your mobile phone, and report it to the Police. When we were there, the van was obstructing members of Welsh choirs from using the crossing and they nearly got hit by a bus.

Their enforcement had nothing whatsoever to do with safety or keeping the road clear. It was all about cynically scamming money from a hard-pressed public because the road is very wide and no obstruction was caused. I don't know how these people sleep at night.