Travel Chaos Across the UK
Wednesday, January 6th, 2010Update: 7th Jan
Sub-zero temperatures across the UK have made for icy roads and pavements. -18c was the temperature recorded in parts of Cheshire and Oxfordshire. Most schools remain shut, power is out affecting around 20,000 people in Hampshire, 3,000 near Clanfield and 5,000 homes in Sussex, Kent and Surrey.
Most airports have now re-opened however they have warned passengers to expect delays, Jersey airport is closed until at least 9am. Easyjet and British Airways have cancelled some flights. Check before you travel.
South West Trains and Chiltern Railways said they were hoping to run a normal service but East Coast has advised passengers not to travel to destinations between Perth and Inverness.
Virgin Trains has cancelled several services between London and both Manchester and Birmingham.
Southern Trains, First Great Western and First TransPennine Express are reporting delays, suspensions and cancellations on many of their routes, while signalling problems at Northallerton were snarling up the network in North Yorkshire.
The roads are still experiencing delays and are strewn with accidents and left vehicles. The M20 is closed London-bound near Maidstone, Kent after a lorry jack knifed and down to two lanes on the opposite side after an accident. There were delays on the M5 in Worcestershire after an accident forced the closure of two lanes, while the A66 in Cumbria and A628 in Derbyshire remained closed.
Update: 6th Jan
As the snow continues to fall across the UK making for some treacherous roads (and pavements, though you shouldn’t really be riding on the pavements!), thousands of schools are closed, airports closed, flights cancelled and trains not running or delayed here’s the lowdown so far:
- The military was called in after up to 1,000 vehicles were stranded when snow blocked the A3 in Hampshire overnight. With one traveller telling the BBC it’s taken him 14 hours so far to get home!
- Hospitals across the country have implemented major incident plans to deal with the weather.
- Bristol, Exeter, London Gatwick and Cardiff airports are all closed.
- Heathrow, Birmingham, Luton and Southampton airports are open but passengers should expect delays.
- Around 300 schools have been closed in Lancashire, 120 in the Solent, 200 in the West Midlands, the same amount in West Yorkshire, 125 in Hertfordshire, over 100 in Liverpool and Gloucestershire and all schools in Bath and North East Somerset are closed.
- In Scotland, all schools in central Borders, East and Midlothian, Shetland and Aberdeenshire are so far closed, as well as half the schools in Dumfries and Galloway.
- North Yorkshire Police said a serious accident had closed parts of the A1. The road was shut southbound between the junctions with the A6136 and the A684, and northbound between junction 49 and the A6136.
- The Highways Agency said the A66 in Cumbria was also shut between the A1 and the A685.
- Police in the Borders said conditions were so bad, people should not travel unless it was a matter of life or death.
- National Rail Enquiries have set up a special number for information about trains affected by the weather: 08453 017 641.
- Twelve lorries have jack-knifed on the A1 near the Angel of the North overnight.
- Police are dealing with two dozen lorries stuck on the main A1 across the River Tyne at Blaydon Bridge.
- All First Bus services in Bristol, Bath, Weston Super Mare and Somerset were suspended because of heavy snow.
Your Videos
Watford:
Hovercrafting in the snow:
How not to drive in the snow:
you guys get a little bit of snow and you think the world ends! that’s like Fall at worse in the US! LOL
I want a hovercraft! how cool is that!