Transport chaos may continue until Christmas as snow returns to UK

[The Patriot]

Transport chaos may continue until Christmas as snow returns to UK

12-20-2010 07:31 AM

ShareThis Published:
Mon, 2010-12-20 15:28


Transport chaos may continue until Christmas as snow returns to UK


Transport chaos may continue until Christmas as snow returns to UK

Source: The Guardian

Heathrow airport all but shut, Eurostar hit by long delays, and AA faces busiest day ever as transport secretary acknowledges public outrage
The Christmas travel chaos deepened today as sub-zero temperatures and a fresh wave of snow sweeping across Britain from the west led to hundreds more flights being cancelled.
Following a weekend of chaotic scenes, with tens of thousands of passengers sleeping on terminal floors awaiting information, British Airways said it was cancelling all short-haul and domestic flights from Heathrow for the rest of the day. "We would urge customers not to travel to the airport unless they have a confirmed booking on one of the flights that is operating," it said in a statement.
The cancellations came as Philip Hammond, the transport secretary, promised an inquiry into Heathrow's handling of the delays, acknowledging public "outrage" over the disruption.
He also announced a temporary relaxation to restrictions on night operations at the airport, permitting limited 24-hour flying over the next four days in an attempt to ease a huge backlog. However, he warned, the airport was "likely to be operating at reduced capacity for the next few days and passengers need to recognise it may not be possible to reach their planned destinations this week".
The south-west was worst hit by the fresh snow, with the Met Office issuing an emergency weather warning for the region as it forecast up to 20cm of snow in some areas. Cardiff and Exeter airports was were closed. Other airports, including Gatwick, Stansted and City in London, had delays and cancellations.
While most roads were less badly affected, the AA warned that a combination of freezing temperatures, routes caked in snow and ice and heavy pre-Christmas traffic meant today was on course to be the organisation's busiest day ever.
After overnight temperatures fell as low as -19.6C in Buckinghamshire and Northern Ireland saw an all-time record of -17.6C in Castlederg, County Tyrone, there were problems too on railways, notably for Eurostar and east coast mainline services. Roads in Devon were badly affected, particularly the M5 and the A380, the latter closed for a period by heavy snow.
However, the focus remained on air travellers, particularly at Heathrow, where large numbers were camped out for days in the hope of making a Christmas getaway, however delayed.
Hammond, who was making a statement on the chaos in the Commons this afternoon, said he wanted a "discussion" about what went wrong, notably claims that passengers at Heathrow were given insufficient information.








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