Big freeze hits Christmas getaway

Dec 24 2009

People planning last-minute Christmas getaways have been warned to prepare for "challenging" conditions and delay non-essential journeys.

The AA, which is dealing with double the normal number of breakdowns, said roads could be "very busy and dangerous" due to the weather.

Road, rail and air travellers continued to face disruption to their Christmas getaway journeys.

Budget airline easyJet had to cancel 16 Christmas Eve flights and there were delays and cancellations at most of the major UK airports.

On the railways, the bad weather led to the axing of a number of services from Glasgow Central station, while engineering works meant disruption in a number of other areas. Signalling problems in the Slade Green area of Kent meant services run by the Southeastern train company were delayed. Also, a broken-down train in the Stratford area of east London resulted in delays to National Express East Anglia services.

Eurostar was running around two-thirds of its normal daily high-speed Channel Tunnel trains between London and Paris and Brussels. The company, which had to suspend services for three days following tunnel breakdowns last weekend, urged passengers with tickets for travel today to turn up at St Pancras station an hour before time.

On the roads, a rise in temperatures meant conditions eased in some areas, but a number of accidents led to delays on main routes. The Highways Agency, which is responsible for England's motorways and major A roads, lifted roadworks at 44 sites from 6am until midnight on January 3. But a number of roadworks remained in place, including those around the northern part of the M25.

AA president Edmund King said: "Extremely difficult travel conditions persist across many parts of the UK as millions of drivers, who have not yet done so, travel to family and friends for Christmas. Many roads today are expected to be very busy and dangerous due to snow and black ice."

There was a marked north-south weather divide for Britain, with temperatures reaching as high as 7C or 8C (45-46F) in southern and south west England, but getting up to only around 2C (36F) in northern England and staying as low as minus 3C (27F) in the Scottish Highlands.

British Airways, which had to cancel some short-haul flights on Wednesday, said its services were running normally at Heathrow, with the west London airport expected to handle around 144,000 passengers today. Around 34,000 were passing through Stansted airport in Essex, where there some delays and cancellations.