A new method to retrieve cloud top heights stereoscopically using the dual‐view facility of the Along Track Scanning Radiometer 2 (ATSR‐2) instrument is assessed. This assessment is performed through a comparison of the cloud top heights obtained from ATSR‐2 stereo and those derived from a 94‐GHz radar, radiosonde profiles and independently from the Modular Optoelectronic Scanner (MOS) using the O2‐A band. The data for this study were collected over the United Kingdom from September 1998–March 1999. The results show that the accuracy of the ATSR‐2 stereo heights is generally as predicted on theoretical grounds, with the errors in the 1.6 µm and 0.65 µm stereo heights rarely exceeding 2 km. Case study periods with disagreements between the ATSR‐2 heights and the ground‐based retrievals are often due to the lack of precise match‐ups between the ground‐based and satellite scenes, while the MOS O2‐A band is shown sometimes to miss the tops of high clouds. Evidence that the 11 µm channel is more sensitive to high clouds than originally thought is given and a future application of multi‐spectral stereo cloud top heights is proposed.