Brace for more Christmas travel hell: Met Office issues yellow weather warnings for 70mph winds in central and northern Britain with ‘lengthy jams’ expected on roads and rail …
Published: 11:32, 24 December 2023 | Updated: 13:46, 24 December 2023
Millions of people are bracing for Christmas[2] Eve travel chaos as those making last-minute getaways face disruption on roads and trains.
The AA has warned of ‘lengthy jams’ for traffic, while the Met Office[3] has said Christmas travel plans could be affected with gusts of up to 70mph due to hit.
Rail disruption is likely to be compounded by the closure of two of London[4]‘s busiest railway stations, King’s Cross and Paddington, for engineering works.
Pictures show how the stations have been left looking like a ghost town, with no passengers and no trains on the platforms.
The closure of London Paddington will continue until Wednesday, meaning no mainline trains will serve Heathrow[5] Airport.
High winds are due to hit the north of Scotland and northern and central areas of England as people embark on their last journeys before Christmas Day.
Two separate yellow weather warnings for wind have been issued, saying people should expect travel disruption, damage to buildings and power cuts, while the rest of the country may see showers.
A delivery driver drives through a large paddle during heavy rain in Manchester as Britain is hit with rain and strong winds
Paddington Station, which is closed due to engineering works, was empty this morning
High winds are due to hit the north of Scotland and northern and central areas of England as people embark on their last journeys before Christmas Day.
Kings Cross station in London, which is also closed today for engineering works
Meteorologist Liam Eslick said: ‘People should make sure to leave more time, especially in exposed areas, it could affect rail networks and ferries.
‘People travelling on roads should take care and stay away from high-sided vehicles, and for people who are at home and are going for walks, stay away from coasts.’
A yellow weather warning for rain is also currently in force covering much of Wales, with forecasters warning that flooding and travel disruption is possible, and will last until 6pm on Christmas Eve.
Between 20 to 40mm of rain is expected widely and 60 to 80mm on higher ground.
Mr Eslick said there may be snow on December 25 on mountains in Scotland but it is ‘not looking likely that there will be a white Christmas in England’.
He added that Christmas Day is expected to be a lot milder than usual, with the average December temperature between 7C and 8C, but the top temperature that could be seen this December 25 is 14C.
The warmest Christmas Day on record was 15.6C in 1920, so there is a ‘small chance’ of it being a record, Mr Eslick added.
Forecaster Jonathan Vautrey said: ‘Obviously there will be quite a lot of people travelling and wanting to get home for Christmas itself.
Cars make their way through a flooded road in Wolverhampton this morning as heavy and persistent rain plagued much of the country last night
Swimmers brave the waves at Littlehampton Beach on a wet and windy Christmas Eve morning in the UK
Empty platforms at Paddington Station in west London, which is closed due to engineering works
Travellers wait to board trains at Euston Station in the early morning on Christmas Eve.
Passengers are seen making Christmas getaways at London St Pancras in the early morning
Passengers wait to board trains at Euston Station amid the desperate Christmas getaway on Christmas eve
The AA has estimated that 16.4 million car journeys will take place on Saturday and warned of significant delays.
Pictured: Heavy traffic on the M25 northbound near Byfleet in Surrey yesterday
Christmas travellers pack Waterloo Station London yesterday afternoon, with some leaving the capital and other coming in for shopping
Queuing traffic on the A102M Blackwall Tunnel approach in Greenwich, south east London, as people make their Christmas getaway yesterday
‘Particularly with these strong winds we could see some flying debris thrown on to particular roads or railway services, so if you get a tree down then that’s going to cause cancellations and delays.
‘There’s the potential for isolated power cuts which will again lead to the risk of some disruption at times.
‘If you’ve got a particular train that you’re catching make sure you’re looking ahead of time if there have been any cancellations.
‘Just make sure you’re driving carefully, there’s the potential that high-sided vehicles could get hit by strong gusts of wind which has the potential to cause impacts, so we might see bridges closing as well.’
Motorists have been advised by the RAC to travel before 11am or after 6pm if possible to reduce the chance of being stuck in long queues.
At the Port of Dover, waiting times reached 90 minutes at border control on Saturday morning, but the queues cleared by the afternoon.
The AA has predicted that today will be one of the busiest days on the UK’s roads
The RAC said 13.5 million leisure journeys by car are expected through Sunday
The port said there had been a surge in demand for ferries after the Channel Tunnel rail link was closed on Thursday due to unscheduled industrial action by French workers, which ruined the travel plans of tens of thousands of people.
Meanwhile, a number of serious crashes closed roads across the country on Saturday.
The A1 in Northumberland was closed in both directions on Saturday morning after a crash between the A1167 and B1340 near Belford.
A multi-vehicle crash closed the M62 in the East Riding of Yorkshire, westbound between J38 near Hull and J37 near Howden on Saturday.
And the M25 in Essex was expected to be closed overnight into Sunday clockwise between J27 for the M11 and J28 for the A12, near Brentwood, due to a crash involving a car.
Eurostar, which operates passenger rail services to and from London St Pancras, has been operating two extra trains per day between London and Paris including on Christmas Eve to help people whose trains were cancelled on Thursday.
Vehicle-carrying train service Eurotunnel is running its usual timetable but is only accepting customers who have pre-booked.
How major engineering work will hit Britain’s railways this Christmas
Some train operators are anticipating disruption to services in the run up to the Christmas break. This is due to a number of reasons such as a shortage of train crew, residual disruption following the recent severe weather and increased passenger volumes as people travel for Christmas.
Major engineering work will also be taking place during the holiday period. Network Rail carry out essential improvement and engineering work across the rail network during this time as fewer people usually travel by train.
Christmas Eve:
Service on most routes concludes earlier than normal, and no trains will be running on Christmas Day.
Please check your whole journey before you travel, and give yourself plenty of time to complete your journey. You may also wish to check the specific advice for the train operator you are travelling with as they may have special ticket and travel advice.
Major engineering work:
During the Christmas and New Year period major engineering work will be taking place at the following locations:
- London Kings Cross journeys will be affected by major improvement work taking place on Christmas Eve, Sunday 24 December. This will significantly affect journeys on the East Coast Main Line between London and Edinburgh, Leeds, Newcastle, York, Peterborough plus many other stations.
- London Paddington journeys will be affected by major improvement work taking place between Christmas Eve, Sunday 24 December, and Wednesday 27 December inclusive.
This will affect journeys to and from South Wales, Bristol, the West Country and the Thames Valley. In addition, Heathrow Airport will have no direct National Rail services to or from central London between Sunday 24 December and Wednesday 27 December inclusive.
- London Victoria station will have no Southeastern services between Saturday 23 December and Monday 1 January 2024 inclusive. Southeastern trains will use alternative London terminal stations.
- London Liverpool Street – Norwich / Ipswich / Colchester journeys will be disrupted through the Chelmsford area between Wednesday 27 December and Monday 1 January.
There will also be improvement projects taking place at numerous other locations.
You can find details of these here[6].
Source: National Rail