Snow causes havoc for travellers

Jan 5 2010

Continuing Arctic conditions have brought more travel chaos to Britain, with road, rail and air travel badly disrupted.

Budget airline easyJet was one of the carriers which had to cancel services as Manchester Airport suspended all flights until at least midday on Tuesday due to heavy snow.

Ten East Coast Main Line rail services between London and Leeds were among the train journeys which had to be axed.

On the roads, heavy snow caused a section of the A66 to be shut in both directions in Cumbria and a succession of accidents added to drivers' difficulties on many routes across the north of England and Scotland.

At Manchester Airport, numerous incoming flights had to be cancelled or diverted and there were a number of cancellations and delays to departing services as well.

There were also delays at Aberdeen and Glasgow Airports.

In addition to the London-Leeds cancellations, East Coast Main Line rail travellers suffered delays, with only a very limited service operating between Edinburgh and Glasgow Central and buses replacing trains between Edinburgh and Motherwell.

Passengers travelling between London and Glasgow Central on East Coast services were advised to take Virgin Trains' West Coast services instead, and a number of local services in and out of Glasgow are also badly affected.

And forecasters warn the latest snowfalls may not be the last of the current wintry period, and said that this winter could turn out to be one of the coldest in 100 years.

MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said up to 15cm of snow could end up lying over "wide areas" by Friday, with the south experiencing "significant or even major difficulties to infrastructures, particularly transport".