Christmas travel chaos: Train strikes, wind warnings and congestion

Brits have been warned of significant disruption to Christmas travel and New Year getaways as a cocktail of train strikes, stormy weather, and record driver numbers impact routes.

Strong winds have led the Met Office to issue yellow warnings for parts of the UK, while the AA said last Friday around 24m drivers took to the roads, the busiest day since records began.

The weather warnings in England cover the North East, South West, West Midlands, and Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Hampshire. They also apply to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The Met is currently forecasting conditions will improve this week, with a “grey Christmas [and] extremely mild” temperatures expected through the height of festivities.

However, adverse weather has already impacted Christmas travel plans.

Brits travelling by road, plane and even ferry over the last month. Amber warnings were issued by the AA over the weekend, with heavy traffic on UK motorways expected to continue until the end of today.

London Heathrow Airport cancelled around 100 flights on Sunday and passengers have been advised to double check with their airline before travelling.

At Belfast City Airport, four flights were cancelled amid a slew of delays at this morning after a plane’s nose wheel collapsed during a hard landing caused by bad weather.

In Wales, Holyhead port has been shut until mid-January due to Storm Darragh earlier in December, effectively cancelling all ferry services between Dublin and Holyhead.

Fresh strike action is also set to hit Christmas travel on the rails after workers at Avanti West Coast announced strikes on New Year’s Eve, 2 January and 25 May.

Strikes planned for 22, 23 and 29 December were suspended last week after a referendum was put to members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union.

The action is likely to cause significant disruption to passengers using the West Coast Main Line across the New Year period.