"Snow-go" Britain strikes again!!

[mc_squared]

Airports closed and drivers stranded as new blanket of snow takes commuters (and forecasters) by surprise

 

 

By Sophie Freeman

Last updated at 7:55 PM on 21st December 2009

 

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The travel chaos caused by icy weather looks set to continue with further disruption to roads, rail services and flights.

Anger has already been sparked by widespread delays including problems with air travel as Gatwick Airport's runway was shut and Luton suspended flights.

British Airways cancelled all European and UK domestic flights leaving Heathrow after 7pm, and said services from London City and Gatwick were ‘significantly disrupted’.

 

Treacherous conditions: Drivers faced blizzards on the M27 this afternoon, near Hedge End, Hampshire

 

 

For the third day running there were no Channel Tunnel high-speed Eurostar trains operating, but the company will resume a restricted service tomorrow.

Budget airline easyJet warned customers that further snow tonight could result in continued flight disruptions.

And the Southeastern train company said that the bad weather meant it would be operating a limited service tomorrow.

Rail passengers in Surrey, Hampshire, Kent, Wales and Lancashire had already been hit, being forced to use replacement bus services today because of the weather.

Tonight London Charing Cross station became jammed with people as the reduced train service caused a backlog.

 

 

More...

 

 

• Eurostar blames 'fluffy snow' for chaos that brought services to a halt
  
• Police search River Severn for woman party-goer who vanished on night out
  
• Think we have it bad? Try Washington for a whole winter's snow in one day
  

 

Southeastern advised those travelling to Kent to use the high-speed service from St Pancras.

Tory leader David Cameron said he was ‘incredibly frustrated’ for rail passengers who have suffered delays and cancellations.

‘I feel hugely sorry for them and it's incredibly frustrating,’ he said.

The icy conditions look set to stay, although there will be less snow in the next few days.

Warnings for ‘widespread icy roads’ have been issued by the Met Office for most of England.

Paul Mott, from Meteogroup, said counties to the north and west of London will be worst hit by snow tonight, while northern England and Scotland will see temperatures as low as minus 8C in rural areas.

There will be less snow tomorrow, he said, but plummeting temperatures mean the continuing risk of ice.

He said: ‘There is certainly a lot of grit on the roads at the moment but one of the problems is that there is a risk of ice on untreated roads.

‘It will be feeling cold over the next few days but it will be drier than it has been.’

Today the AA had its busiest day on the roads in 10 years. By 3pm, it had attended around 16,000 breakdowns. Normally, for the whole of a Monday in December the AA would attend around 10,000 vehicles.

In the south of England, the South Central Ambulance Service said calls to its control rooms - already struggling under a deluge of calls from people slipping over on the ice and breaking legs and arms - had reached critical levels.

A spokesman in Berkshire said that paramedics had been called to dozens of road accidents in the county in the space of two hours this afternoon.

 

They included a car which skidded on the snow and slammed into a house Thatcham, Berkshire, a collision between a lorry and a car on the M4 motorway near Hungerford, a car overturned on the ice at Newbury and two cars in collision at Grazeley, near Reading.

Commuter chaos: Snow took drivers by surprise in Crystal Palace, south east London

Ambulances were also called to cars which slid on the ice and crashed at Farnham Common and two cars which collided in Basingstoke, Hampshire, trapping two women.

The ambulance spokesman appealed to drivers and pedestrians not to venture out in the hazardous conditions unless their journeys were really essential.

'We have just seen the busiest weekend of the year so far,' he said. 'We are seeing an increased demand on our services at this time due to the adverse weather conditions and unfortunately this means that on occasions we are taking longer to get to locations due to the poor driving conditions caused by the weather.'

Picture perfect: Horseriders brave the snow on the east Pennines in Middleham, North Yorkshire

 

Across Hampshire, heavy snow led to many roads becoming impassable today. The north and east of the county was the worst affected, with heavy snow also in the Winchester and Alton areas.

The main routes affected by the snow are the M3 between junctions 5 and 6 and the A339, both south and north of Basingstoke, while on the B3349 between Odiham and Alton there were reports this afternoon of cars being abandoned. The A31 at Four Marks is also impassable.

 

In the North West of England, a spokesperson for Manchester Airport said poor conditions in Northern Europe had forced its airlines to cancel a further 19 flights today, after a weekend of long delays.

The airport advised passengers travelling to areas of Europe affected by snow to check their flight status with the airline prior to leaving for the airport.

Unsteady: A two-month-old king penguin chick slips on the frozen ice and snow at Edinburgh Zoo

The Met Office said more snow and sleet is expected to fall across the UK with Scotland likely to be worst hit as the cold snap persists for the next few days.

Forecasters said heavy snow and blizzards will affect the west and northern parts of Scotland most.

 

Emergency services in the highlands said people should not travel unless absolutely necessary.

 

Spokesman John Hammond said fresh snowfalls were expected in western parts of Scotland and down into the North West of England as far south as the Manchester area through the course of this afternoon.

He said the snow in the Home Counties in southern England would also drift up towards parts of East Anglia and the East Midlands.

The cold snap will continue for the next few days with temperatures struggling to get above freezing and dropping to minus 4 degrees centigrade in some areas, he added.

 

Festive fun: Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall throws a snowball after attending a tea party for children from Ty Hafan hospice in Wales at Highgrove House in Gloucestershire

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Heavy snow in parts of Yorkshire and Cumbria has caused major disruption to travellers with some drivers abandoning their cars.

 

Driving conditions are also hazardous in Greater Manchester, including the M60 motorway, with some smaller roads being closed for safety.

In South Wales, more than 180 schools and nurseries were closed today because of poor weather conditions and in mid Wales, the M4 was temporarily shut at junction 48 near Llanelli after a crash.

In Pembrokeshire, one man was taken to hospital after being trapped in his van after it overturned near Dredgeman Hill, Haverfordwest and five people were injured in a separate crash between two cars and a 4x4 on the A487 near Newport.

Winter wonderland: Walkers take a stroll among the snow-covered trees at the National Arboretum, Westonbirt, Gloucestershire

A spokesman for the ambulance service said they were receiving more calls than usual because of the weather, including several incidents of dogs falling into frozen lakes.

Fears were also growing for a young man who vanished in the freezing weather.

 

Adam Passfield, 22, was last seen at 2.30am on Saturday in Chelmsford, Essex, after an evening out with members of Heybridge Swifts Football Club.

Across Britain, the AA said that by 3pm, it had attended around 16,000 breakdowns. Normally, for the whole of a Monday in December the AA would attend around 10,000 vehicles.

Heart-warming: A commuter reads a snowy message written on a car in Edinburgh

In the North East of England, ambulance crews complained that poorly-gritted roads had hindered its response to emergency calls.

Crews from the North East Ambulance Service said that main roads in the region were not gritted properly over the weekend, and teams only managed to reach 30-45 per cent of life-threatening calls within the eight-minute target.

 

In Berkshire, hundreds of people were stuck for hours this afternoon trying to get out of the Riverside car park at Reading's Oracle shopping centre. Others were forced to abandon their cars on the roads as traffic ground to a halt, Thames Valley Police said.

Pauline Woods was one of many who decided to leave their car at the Oracle centre overnight.

 

Mrs Woods said: 'I was waiting for an hour, but some people were there for two, some with babies in the car. They must be freezing. As soon as we get a bit of snow everything comes to a standstill.'

Cecilia Paolino, 34, who is seven-and-a-half months pregnant, said: 'This country isn't prepared for snow. I just hope the baby doesn't come now, a helicopter would have to come for me.'

Snow fun: Sledgers make the most of the weather in Whitley Bay, North Tyneside

An Oracle spokeswoman said customers were being advised to stay in the centre rather than try to get out of the car park.

The Easyjet airline, which has suffered flight disruptions today, warned customers that further snow tonight could result in further delays tomorrow. It is advising all customers to check its website before setting off to airports.

 

'Passengers should be aware, given this is a busy time of year, there is little availability over the next few days, so passengers whose flights have been cancelled today may not be able to transfer on to flights for a few days,' said a spokesman.

'Going to the airport to make alternative arrangements is not recommended as the airports - particularly Bristol, Luton, Gatwick, Madrid & Paris Charles De Gaulle - are very busy.'

 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1237561/Gatwick-forced-close-fresh-wave-snow-catches-forecasters-commuters-surprise.html#ixzz0aM78VVVJ

[Reilly]

I dont know how we managed without you Mark, because Im incapable of accessing the Daily Mail's website.

 

Good to have you back.

[mc_squared]

Why can't we cope in snow? Cars trapped, flights grounded, ruined holidays... yes, winter's caught UK off-guard (again)

 

 

 

By James Tozer, Ray Massey and Ryan Kisiel

Last updated at 8:50 AM on 22nd December 2009

 

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• AA reports busiest day for ten years, attending 20,000 breakdowns
  
• Dozens of Heathrow flights cancelled, Gatwick reopens, delays at Manchester
  
• Eurostar resumes limited services after blaming cancellations on 'fluffy' snow
  
• Rail passengers in Surrey, Hampshire, Kent, Wales and Lancashire facing disruption
  
• 2,000 motorists were trapped by the snow on the Basingstoke ring road
  

The Christmas travel nightmare continued today with more snow and ice causing havoc on the roads and further disruption for rail and air services.

 

Plunging overnight temperatures have transformed many of yesterday's snowfalls into treacherous surfaces, with the Met Office warning of 'widespread icy roads' for most of England and Wales as well as more snowfalls for the southern half of the country.

Travellers also face another raft of train and flight cancellations and delays, although several airports have reopened their runways and Channel Tunnel high-speed Eurostar trains are resuming a restricted service after three days of suspension caused by 'fluffy snow'.

 

With anger growing at the inability to cope, and the failure to learn the lessons of February's big freeze:

 

 

Snow flurry: Flakes fall on Oxford Street in central London as shoppers continue their last minute Christmas shopping

 

Twenty mile jams: The M4 in Berkshire saw huge tailbacks and drivers were urged to choose other routes

 

 

 

Budget airline easyJet said the hangover from yesterday's bad weather would see scores of flights cancelled from Luton, Gatwick, Stansted, Glasgow and Edinburgh airports this morning.

British Airways cancelled all UK and European flights departing after 7pm yesterday, and was 'strongly' advising passengers to check their flight status before setting off today.

Staff at Gatwick are working to clear a backlog after reopening the runway last night, while Aberdeen, Luton and Southampton were also working to resume flight operations but warning travellers of continued delays.

 

More...

 

 

• Eurostar queues descend into chaos as thousands scramble for seats after limited service resumes
  
• Grandfather found frozen under ice in city centre fountain had heart attack after Christmas party
  
• Now health and safety killjoys ban reindeer from Christmas display... because it might snow
  

 

Manchester airport - where passengers had to endure long waits just to reach the check-in desk - gave out food, water and blankets overnight to people stranded by delays.

'Staff are working incredibly hard to clear the ice and snow from our 750 hectare site,' a spokesman said, warning of further havoc.

 

 

 

Stranded in St Pancras: Passengers wait in vain for Eurostar services to France

 

On the trains, Eurostar is resuming a restricted service from 7.30am, when customers with tickets for December 19 and 20 allowed to travel.

Rail passengers in Surrey, Hampshire, Kent, Wales and Lancashire were also braced for further disruption, after being forced to use replacement bus services yesterday because of the weather.

There were delays of up to an hour for passengers travelling into Marylebone station in London from the South Midlands and from areas to the north west of London.

 

A broken-down train at Old Hill in the West Midlands led to delays of around 50 minutes for customers of the Chiltern and London Midland train companies.

 

The Southern train company ran services under a revised timetable today, with reduced frequencies.

 

The bad weather also led to delays of around 50 minutes this morning in rail services in the Lancaster area, while the Southeastern train company ran a Saturday service.

 

Buses replaced trains between Sittingbourne and Sheerness-on-Sea in Kent while there were no services between Inverness and Kyle of Lochalsh in Scotland.

 

Hampshire Police said that at one point last night around 2,000 motorists were trapped by the snow on the Basingstoke ring road.

 

But by the early hours of this morning that had reduced to about 20.

 

Elsewhere, in the north east of the county, about 200 vehicles were abandoned or trapped, with the A31 at Four Marks and Ropley badly hit by the weather.

 

The Alton and Winchester areas also suffered problems.

The great blizzard intensified speculation about a white Christmas, and bookmakers were inundated with record numbers of bets. William Hill was offering 9/4 against snow in London on Christmas Day yesterday, with Aberdeen the likeliest prospect in Britain at 11/10.

Icy weather is likely to continue today leaving families running out of time to make alternative travel arrangements or finish last-minute preparations.

Forecasters predict a thaw will start to set in from Christmas Eve in the South at least, but frosty nights and freezing fog are expected elsewhere for the rest of the week.

The havoc which paralysed much of Britain was caused by a band of snow which spread from the South East yesterday afternoon, adding two inches to what had fallen over the weekend.

It coincided with the evening rush-hour, causing gridlock on roads out of London and bringing motorways across the South to a virtual standstill with drivers urged to avoid them at all costs.

 

Commuter chaos: Snow took drivers by surprise in Church Street Kensington

 

Gridlock: Traffic backs up in Hemel Hempstead

 

There were tailbacks of more than 20 miles on the M4 out of London. The M25, M23, M40, A40, M3 and A3 were also badly affected.

AA president Edmund King claimed the lessons of the big February freeze had still not been learned by the Highways Agency and local councils, and said salting had not been planned properly for the big freeze.

His organisation had helped 16,000 motorists by 3pm. Normally, for the whole of a Monday in December the AA would attend around 10,000 vehicles.

He said: 'We are pleading with local highway authorities, who have claimed that they have no salt shortages, to use their supplies more effectively and in a timelier manner.'

Graham Robinson, control room manager for North East Ambulance Service, said: 'Crews were telling us that the main roads had not been gritted, which was slowing down ambulances on emergency calls.

 

'We expect side roads not to be treated, but some of the main routes appeared to be just as bad.'

Picture perfect: Horseriders brave the snow on the east Pennines in Middleham, North Yorkshire

 

 

A scooter rider carefully negotiates the roads at Olympia, West London (left), while Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall throws a snowball after attending a tea party for children from Ty Hafan hospice in Wales at Highgrove House in Gloucestershire

 

Five people, including a woman in her 80s, were forced to stay the night at St Lawrence Church in the small market town of Alton, Hampshire after becoming stuck in the snow.

Hundreds of Christmas shoppers in Reading were stranded for hours trying to enter a car park and were facing the prospect of facing the night there.

 

Cecilia Paolino, 34, who is seven and a half months pregnant, said: 'This country isn't prepared for snow.

I just hope the baby doesn't come now - a helicopter would have to come for me.'

 

In neighbouring Buckinghamshire, hundreds of motorists were trapped near Chalfont St Peter, leading to angry protests at how swiftly the road became impassable.

Trains were also hit with delays across Southern England including services between London and Milton Keynes Central and Virgin West Coast routes, while London Charing Cross station became jammed with people as the backlog began to bite.

 

Delays at London Victoria saw 100 stranded passengers whose services had been cancelled offered a free lift home on a steam train which normally charges £200 a head for a leisurely trip through Kent with a four-course meal.

The head of Cathedrals Express, Graeme Bunker, said: 'The passengers were all stuck and had no way of getting home so we were delighted to help them out as there was plenty of space.'

Steam trains can keep going partly because the steam melts most of the snow along the lines, but mainly because they do not have the electrical components of modern trains, which stop working when they get wet.

 

 

 

Standstill: A Eurostar train sits in a siding in the Kent countryside (left), while cars back up in Wandsworth, London (right)

 

 

 

 

 

Unsteady: A two-month-old king penguin chick slips on the frozen ice and snow at Edinburgh Zoo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Winter wonderland: Walkers take a stroll among the snow-covered trees at the National Arboretum, Westonbirt, Gloucestershire

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1237561/Gatwick-forced-close-fresh-wave-snow-catches-forecasters-commuters-surprise.html#ixzz0aPFOHfNm

[Black Rose]

Why can't we cope in snow?

 

Because some person decided it wasn't worth spending the money on getting everything to work when it snows because it doesn't snow that often :P