Tonight:
5°c
Heavy snow stops Christmas getaway in its tracks
Mark Prigg and Dick Murray18 Dec 2009
Heavy snow caused chaos today as thousands were forced to abandon their plans for a Christmas getaway.
Airports were worst hit, with both Heathrow and Gatwick cancelling dozens of flights and diverting passengers to airports as far away as Manchester. Security queues were overwhelmed at Stansted after delays to the express train serving the airport.
Commuters were also badly hit as the storms swept the East of England, and many opted to stay at home to avoid the treacherous conditions. The Met Office said drifts up to 30cm deep had hit some areas, stranding motorists in their cars, while many more abandoned their vehicles to seek shelter. It warned the snow will continue into the early evening in the worst hit areas.
In Kent, tens of thousands of commuters were told to stay at home as police advised people not to travel unless they had to.
Parts of the M20 and M2 were closed but had reopened by mid-morning, although were severely congested. A Kent police spokesman said: “In some areas it is virtually impossible to get through in a two-wheel-drive vehicle.”
Forecasters warned that the snow would continue for the rest of the day in some areas. On the railways the line from Hastings, via Tunbridge Wells, into Charing Cross and Cannon Street was badly hit. However, central London escaped the worst of the problems and Transport for London said it had deployed its entire fleet of 36 gritters to keep roads clear.
Air passengers were forced to endure delays and cancellations. Gatwick was closed for two and a half hours this morning, with 25 flights cancelled. A spokesman said the airport was giving priority to outbound flights to ease congestion, and some incoming easyJet flights were being diverted to Manchester.
Heathrow has also cancelled 70 flights, as an estimated 416,000 passengers were expected to go through the airport today and tomorrow, the busiest two days of the Christmas period. Luton airport remained closed until 10am, with a number of easyJet flights affected, including flights to Glasgow, Paris, Geneva and Nice.
Stansted passengers were also warned to expect delays after the main train service was reduced, causing packed trains and security lines at the airport to become overwhelmed. City Airport was forced to close for 1.5 hours. Passengers were warned to expect “significant delays”. Lena Steinmetz, 23, said her Christmas plans were under threat after her flight to Munich from Gatwick was cancelled. “I managed to get on another Aer Lingus flight for tomorrow but I was lucky because there were only three seats left, and what if it's cancelled if there's more snow?”
Felix Hanikan, 28, a banker of Knightsbridge, said he was “really angry” that he had missed his flight to South Africa because of the snow.
Tamara Priede, 24, a nurse of Mansion House, said scenes at Luton Airport were “chaotic”.
On the roads, the Highways Agency said a series of major lorry crashes meant its gritters were unable to reach many of the worst-hit areas. It has 94 winter maintenance compounds across England, with 25 in the South-East, and claimed it was able to treat all roads within three hours of severe forecasts. But a spokesman said road users also had to “drive appropriately”.
Kent Police urged people not to call them unless it was an emergency.
Essex police said it had to deal with more than 180 weather-related incidents during the night. Temperatures are expected to remain around freezing for much of the weekend.
Reader views (37)
This elf and safety is really dangerous as i remember a time when it snowed and little old ladies would be out with their brooms sweeping snow into gutter and spreading table salt onto steps and pavements and when coal fire was extinguised the ashes would be thrown on the pavements. The resullt was ice was soon dealt with and life carried on.
Nowdays we are told that if we did the above and someone had an accident then the resident or business owner could be held responsible for any accidents! The result is pavements are left to become icerinks with broken limbs a danger for all who try to walk (I myself fell down earlier today luckily with my weight I am well padded!)
The only safe place to walk was in the road so perhaps its time someone organised a protest walk in the road along a busy road as a protest against non cleared pavements.
In fact, yesterday it was no different in Southend where the High Street was covered in ice and instead of the roadsweeper spreading grit he was just picking up the odd piece of paper!!
Pedestrians now know the price of Council Tax Freezes!!
Its time to reverse elf and safety to make it a legal obligation of local councils to clear pavements within 24 hours of snow falling else anyone who falls will have an automatic right to compensation.
- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex, 20/12/2009 15:53
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Global warming, what global warming?
- Pat, Essex, 20/12/2009 10:11
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Just some thoughts about this, if any journalist could investigate... I was in Gatwick the whole day waiting until my flight got cancelled, like many. But what surprises me is that the great majority of cancelled flights were Easyjet. Why were most of the other airlines flying? Are Easyjet pilots not good enough to take off with 0c?? My guess is the following: the airline makes a great deal of a cancelled flight: probably it gets some insurance claim, no fuel to pay and it can always claim for a force majeure not to reimburse its passengers. In my case, I will get hardly 40 pounds back over 160 bescause my inbound flight is "not disrupted" but I cannot take it!! I suppose a regular airline would have had to refund the full price, not Easyjet, so they volunteer to cancel flights and we get screwed.
- Vincent, London, 19/12/2009 10:39
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Not a lot's changed in my 50 year absence from the Old Dart, it snows and everything comes to a halt. The public transport system shuts down, the roads don't get gritted or snow-ploughed until all snow starts to melt. Bout the only thing that's changed is the ethnic balance of the country and the country's being run by a battalion of mental midgets.
- Len, Perth Australia, 19/12/2009 06:32
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I really hope that the people who were so horrible and nasty to BA crew are now going to get their Christmas ruined even if it is getting from Guildford to Norwich! What goes around comes around, people on most newspaper sites were beyond reason with their vicious remarks.
I support the BA crews as they to have a life to lead, familes etc just like us, despite the tyranical poisoned dwarf they sadly have as a leader.
- David, London, 19/12/2009 01:14
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Geraldine, spot on. Cannot believe there are morons calling for more infrastructure which will increase taxes simply to be utilised one or two days a year. We're going to have days like this, we'll muck on and do our best and just carry on no big deal.
Those who keep harping on about how rubbish the UK is really do need to travel the world a bit to realise how unbelievably lucky many of us are to live here. We all need to be a bit more thankful. Merry Christmas.
- Elaine, Cambridge, 18/12/2009 18:12
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As someone who visits relations in Calgary and Edmonton in Canada on a regular basis. Now they can get down to Siberian temperatures. Every house has a plug in car heater. The roads get cleared. 2 inches in London and you would think we never have snow. What a joke. Try Canada or the Mid West in the USA. Does Switzerland grind to a halt? No.Why do those in the South East make a vsong and dance over a few inches of snow? Heck I remember being in Glasgow in 1995 between Christmas and the New Year when it was minus 20 Deg C.It went for nearly a week and the main street in Glasgow had inches of snow. Yet everyone carried on.
- Jim, London, 18/12/2009 17:32
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England a banana state without the bananas
- Edward, london, 18/12/2009 17:32
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Wonder how the thousands of commuters forced to change at god forsaken station otherwise known as Edgware Road (district line) got on? How much better had enclosed warm platforms at Moorgate been used instead but why should Boris care he never uses public transport.
Its ironic how this elf and safety has actually made life much more dangerous especially for pedestrians.
Once upon a time little old ladies would have swept the snow from the pavement into the road and then put salt down, this would be followed by the ashes from the coal fire and the reult was safe clear pavements. Then along came elf and safety and said that if you cleared your pavement and someone had an accident then it would be your fault!!!
The result is ppavement remains covered in ice and a permenent danger to pedestrians but who cares at least the snow wont be blocking the roads used by cars.
Perhaps councils should be legally made to clear all pavements within 12 hours of it snowing I remember back in the 60's when councils took on temporary staff to clear roads and pavements perhaps this system needs to be brought back!!!
I reckon we need a biit more of that global warming perhaps we need to put a couple more coal power stations on the fire.
- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex, 18/12/2009 17:13
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What BA/Unite couldn't manage to do, good old British weather has. Never underestimate the weather
- Dhan Raj, Basildon, 18/12/2009 16:18
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Here we go again... What a joke. Did the councils not learn from Feb 09, when heavy snow fell and the country came to a stand still. I am in Surrey, and none of the roads, nor pathways nor train platforms were gritted. The council is responsible for ensuring the public pathways and roads are safe for us to travel on. Is that not why we pay our taxes!!! I think we shoudl have the right to sue our councils, if we fall or injur ourselves as a result of unclear, and unsafe pathways.
Its a joke again, we are once again a laughing stock, as the UK/ London can not manage when there is a little snow, nor when there is heavy rain.
When will our good tax money be used for useful things such as more gritters, safe pathways and better travel plans rather than being wasted on digging holes in roads randlomly and filling them back in again, or on pointless upgrades of signposts!!!
If you work in a council organisation... tell me, why is it so difficult to put efforts in place to ensure there is minimum disruptions to people who are paying your wages, especially when there has been at least a weeks notice of the upcoming whether?!?
- Nl, Epsom, 18/12/2009 16:01
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I stood for an hour at Harrow station this morning at TfL took all trains out of service. The only information was an announcement every 3 minutes about extreme weather despite absolutely no snow or ice anywhere.
Glad y'all had better experiences but for me it was the usual complete incompetance following a light dusting.
- Phloss, London, 18/12/2009 15:44
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Phillip in Moscow, I would never want to visit your terrible city again. Yes it is beautiful around red square where all the money has been spent but as soon as you move a few streets away the city is like something from the third world !
I encountered con men pretending to be police after my passport, rip off taxi drivers, terrible service in shops... I saw old women fighting for coins that were being thrown in red square... There was chaos at the airport gewtting through passport control with fights breaking out when a line was lcosed and we been waiting an hour...
Really you have nothing to be proud of in the city !
- Lee Wilson, London, 18/12/2009 15:42
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South,London,-I too would rather live in the deep south,and I know the farm live stock are much happier down our way,they don't spend all day looking over their shoulders!!,I think Jeff should go and bother a few more sheep if it brings him enjoyment.
- Jacob, Bent Kent Region1648A EUSSR., 18/12/2009 15:39
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Well it's hell here in Essex. 2 inches of snow to trudge through and the cold is ubelievable my little pinkies however, are snug in my gortex mittens. May even get up today as long as it doesn't snow anymore and wife has cleared the path when she gets home from work.
- James Town, Braintree UK, 18/12/2009 15:34
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You might of guessed that once Old Faceache decided to go to Copenhagen, to lecture people about the dangers of
global warming, that it would snow.
- Black Tom, London, 18/12/2009 15:27
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I'm soooo bored of the same old argument you people have every year - change the record! Get a life!
- Jo, London, 18/12/2009 15:16
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What you lot gonna do??? Blame BA cabin crew?
- David, London, 18/12/2009 15:13
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I'm going to stick my neck out and forecast a barbecue Christmas.
- Stephen C, London, 18/12/2009 14:03
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Geraldine,
Russia in not a permanantly frozen arctic waste. The summers here are so hot it is simply unbelievable.
The difference is people don't overreact. And I can promise you, in the years I have lived here, I have learned to respect people who don't panic, but simply carry on sensibly, WITHOUT idiotic PC rules, 'elf and safety, or any of the other nonsense that has emasculated the UK. Why do you think I have left?
The UK HAS had it. Just look at the economy. Hadly the most respendent is it? More like a banana republic?
- Philip, Moscow, Russia, 18/12/2009 13:57
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Philip from Russia, I'm too much of a lady to tell you exactly what I think, but no most of us in the UK do not over-react to bad weather. Unlike Russia - a permanently frozen arctic waste - our problems stem from the fact that this sort of bad weather is now rare in the UK. It would be financial irresponsible to have the sort of infrastructure permanently in place to deal with it. We therefore just have to put up with disruption on the few occasions we experience snow, ice etc. Oh yes and wake up call for you, Great Britain is still Great and will continue to be so.
- Geraldine, London, 18/12/2009 13:10
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Ironic that I could not get home to the UK today from Swizerland because of snow in the UK....Ironic, but not at all funny.
- Steve, Basel, Switzerland, 18/12/2009 12:49
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What gets me is the weathermen who still don't know if it's going to be a white Xmas!....Well-it's hardly going to be a heatwave is it?
This proves that they don't EVEN know what the weather is doing at the moment.
And by the way guys--change your december long range--since guess what?--todays snow was unforecast!
- William Grierson, Kimpton-UK, 18/12/2009 12:28
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'Freeze hits Christmas getaway'. Did I miss something? I thought Christmas was next Friday, not this Friday.
- Lewis, London, 18/12/2009 11:55
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999? Yes, kids are throwing snowballs!!! Come on people, we were all kids.
- Mark, London, 18/12/2009 11:28
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This is utterly laughable. A few flakes of snow and the UK panics.
The first snow fell here over 2 months ago. We have had temperatures around -30C to -20C all this week.
There is ice everywhere, plus snow of course, the latter for weeks now.
And life here carries on as if nothing has happened. That does not mean the ice or snow is any the less slippery. But people don't overreact.
I think the UK's days of being any sort of power are over, and with the morons in government (both blue and red) I doubt improvements are on the way.
Sad epitaph for our once great nation.
- Philip, Moscow, Russia, 18/12/2009 11:02
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I was walking down the road in Blackheath this moring and the kids were shouting out that the school had been closed. I'll point out I was walking through 1 inch of snow that has probally melted by now...
- Paul B, London, 18/12/2009 11:02
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My local council actually had the gritters out last night to keep the main roads clear.I managed to get into work today, even though the trains were eractic, but that's a normal service for London Midland any day of the week.
- Triffidqueen, Desk in London, 18/12/2009 11:00
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Jeff, Stockton,. never mind ey Jeff, I think I prefer living in the south rather than sleeping with pigs up t'north.
- South, London, 18/12/2009 10:44
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Er, there's hardly any snow in central London - so TfL didn't do a thing.
- Simon, London, N5, 18/12/2009 10:37
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All this fuss over about 3mm of light snow...very embarrassing...other countries must be wondering what has happened to Great Britain.
- St, London, 18/12/2009 10:30
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When I was a lad in London in the Fifties and Sixties we thought nothing of going to school in harsh weather conditions - indeed we would have been in trouble if we hadn't turned up.
When you're young, slipping over in the snow on your bottom is great fun. During the great smogs of that era I can remember walking to school on my own wearing a muslin mask when you could literally only see a yard in front of you, feeling your way to school using the walls along the pavement.
It's unbelievable the way things have turned round. Now you are expected not to get to school during bad weather.
- Totally Confused, Ex London, 18/12/2009 10:29
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It's becoming serious, this global warming problem, isn't it?
- Ken, Bexleyheath, 18/12/2009 10:06
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Eeee by eck, you soft southern jesses.
I was up at 4pm feeding sheep in't T shirt (not best un)shorts and stout fell boots. Dog looked like running snow man. Managed t' light tabs and smerk 3 without drawing breath, wind is that raw.
People say its grim in't north but the only transport that works up here is smoke belching, trusty, rusty Landover, not so much grim as grime, southerners are dislexic as well as soft. No lycra cyclists or them eco worriers up here in this weather, big circular electricity pylon turns lovely in't snow aond only manages to mangle a few gulls, but the squirrels get seasick balancing on't tip of blades. It strikes me that lilly- livered Londoners only 'ave green credentials when ‘t suits, no sleeping with pigs t' keep warm, real natural like.
So off for fry-up of 3 eggs from ducks, bacon and black pudding from sarah, t' fattest pig, and a great slab of fried bread in't lard.
Another instalment from grim north later as i'm off to shoe best pulling donkey and keep cats warm by t' forge. Southerners? don't know you’re born !
- Jeff, Stockton, 18/12/2009 10:05
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Not one solitary snowflake to be seen in Sunny Morecambe.
It is very mild and sunny - positively tropical!
Global Warming must be heading West!!
- Reuben Camara, Plot 1, Morecambe Compound, EUSSR, 18/12/2009 09:44
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I suffered absolutely no travel problems this morning. On the contrary the Underground was emptier than usual. I was very much hoping to have my tubes cancelled and a nice relaxing day at home. Seems like TfL and the Met Office are working together much to my dismay. To be fair though i didn't really see any 'heavy' snowfall. Nothing compared to the February falls anyway.
- Ak, Haringey, London, 18/12/2009 09:31
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Full marks and well done to TFL for keeping the buses and tubes running this morning.
- Neil, People'S Republic Of Europe (Formerly England), London UK, 18/12/2009 09:12
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