Snow sparks flight chaos as freezing weather and strikes set to cause more misery for travellers this week

13 December 2022, 00:39

Hundreds of flights have been cancelled already this week because of the snow, with the weather and industrial action set to cause further misery for travellers in the coming days.

Snow, ice and freezing temperatures caused massive disruption at airports, on roads and on the railways on Monday, with cancellations and closures bringing parts of the UK to a standstill.

More than 300 flights due to serve UK airports were cancelled across Sunday and Monday, with Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Stansted and Bristol among those affected.

Gatwick, Luton and Stansted airports all said on Monday they were open but that the weather was disrupting flights.

Gatwick posted on Twitter: "The airport is open and flights are operating however freezing weather will cause delays and cancellations for the rest of today.

"Please check the status of your flight with your airline - and local travel conditions - before coming to the airport."

Passengers shared their experiences of the chaos as flights were cancelled, delayed and diverted because of the snow.

One man said the Ryanair flight he and his three children were taking from Helsinki to Stansted was rerouted to Brussels because of the snow - after first being delayed for four hours.

James Brookbank said his three children ended up sleeping on the floor of the airport, adding that Ryanair had kept them in the dark about their flight.

He told Sky News: "[We were] just fending for ourselves really, children, people of all ages strewn across the floor."

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Ryanair said: "As the snowy weather continues across the UK, our teams are working hard to minimise disruption to customers."We sincerely apologise for these weather-related disruptions which are entirely beyond our control."

The disruption for travellers is set to continue on Tuesday, with yellow warnings for snow and ice in northern Scotland, Orkney, Shetland and north-east England, as well as a yellow warning for ice in south-east England.

Met Office spokesman Oli Claydon said there will be heavy snow in some places again on Tuesday.

"Coming into force at midnight tonight all the way through to lunchtime on Thursday, (there is a) large snow and ice warning covering the North East of England, the whole sort of northern portion of Scotland, as well as the Highlands and islands," he said.

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He said there could be "as much as 15 to 20 centimetres of snow accumulating over high ground".

Mr Claydon said northern Scotland could record even colder temperatures on Tuesday after breaking the record for the coldest night of the year on Monday, with -9.3 Celsius in Braemar, in Aberdeenshire.

"In terms of temperature, we could see another very cold night, especially in parts of Scotland where we've got that lying snow," he said.

"We saw minus 15C last night. We could see similar or potentially even colder tonight under clear skies with that snowfall lying in some places.

"So a very cold night there but also broadly very cold across the whole of the UK, with widespread freezing conditions."

Mr Claydon urged commuters across the UK to "leave a little bit more time" if driving and to travel with "a bit of extra caution".

Commuters' headaches are set to be compounded by train strikes, with members of the RMT union walking out on Tuesday in the first of a series of days of industrial action over the Christmas period. The union rejected a pay deal offered on Monday afternoon.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) will press ahead with two 48-hour strikes at Network Rail - and 14 train companies - from Tuesday and Friday.

Trains will run from 7.30am to 6.30pm on this week's strike days, although many parts of the country will have no services, including most of Scotland and Wales.More strikes are also planned between December 24 and 27.The RMT said 63.6% voted to reject Network Rail's offer on an 83% turnout.

The train strike could push more people onto the roads, which are expected to still be affected by the snow and ice.

Rod Dennis, a spokesperson for the RAC said the company's breakdown teams were "exceptionally busy" on Monday, helping more than 7,500 motorists with breakdowns - 50% more than what they would see on a typical Monday in December.