Car storage

We rented a council garage years ago and getting it required nothing more than filling in an application form and depositing it at the town hall. I'd imagine such things are done on the internet these days, so would suggest looking for 'garages' on the local authority's website.

You'll face several issues with the council route, however:

1) If memory serves, one has to reside in the same local authority area as the garage itself.

2) Competition for lockups is fierce and there is a waiting list for them in many places. We had to wait at least a year to get ours.

3) Expect any council garage to be on the primitive side. Most were built in the sixties and few have been improved since then.

4) You probably won't have any choice as to where said lockup is, in the sense of the actual road.

5) Lockups are becoming fewer and further between, especially in London and the South East. Developers like buying garage blocks as brownfield sites and cash-strapped councils love to sell them for the same reason.

Having said all that, there are still decent council garages about the place and hiring ours was a pain-free experience.