Planes grounded, trains cancelled, roads closed amid big freeze

Whether travelling by air, rail or road, Britons face a tough journey on Thursday, with snow and ice having severe effects on the country’s transport infrastructure.

In the air, a number of airports remain closed and hundreds of flights have been cancelled, while on the ground many train operating companies operating a seriously reduced service.

Some airports close down entirely

Glasgow and Edinburgh Airports remain closed entirely, while East Midlands Airport was closed until at least midday.

Flights have been cancelled at other airports, with Manchester, Birmingham and London City among those severely affected.

Other London airports, including Gatwick, have also seen dozens of flights cancelled.

British Airways has pulled the pin on at lease 91 flights today, with most of them at London Heathrow.

“Due to the severe weather conditions and restrictions and potential closures at some airports we fly to and from, we have been forced to cancel and merge some of our flights on Thursday and Friday to ensure that we protect the rest of our schedule,” the airline said in a statement.

“We are keeping customers informed and offering those due to travel up to and including Sunday a range of flexible rebooking options, even if their flight is still due to fly as planned.”

On the budget side of things, Ryanair is facing disruption on both sides of the Irish Sea, with a number of airports being completely cancelled by the airline for the day.

In the UK, all flights at East Midlands and Leeds Bradford have cancelled for the remainder of the day, as well as those at the closed Edinburgh and Glasgow Airports.

Over in the Republic of Ireland, all flights at Cork and Kerry Airports have been cancelled, while a number of flights have also been slashed at Dublin.

“Due to continuing adverse weather conditions, Ryanair expects further flight delays and cancellations at airports today and tomorrow and we recommend customers check the status of their flight at Ryanair.com before making their way to the airport,” Ryanair said.

“We are doing everything we can to re-accommodate customers and we apologise for any inconvenience caused by these disruptions which are entirely outside of our control.”

Anybody travelling by air today is advised to check with their airline before making their way to the airport.

Slow going on the railways

A slew of train operators are also severely disrupted, with National Rail releasing a long list of services that could be affected.

They included Arriva Trains Wales, c2c, Caledonian Sleeper, Chiltern Railways, CrossCountry, East Midlands Trains, Gatwick Express, Grand Central, Great Western Railway, Greater Anglia, Heathrow Express, Hull Trains, London Overground, Merseyrail, Northern, ScotRail, South Western Railway, Southeastern, Southern, Stansted Express, TfL Rail, Thameslink, TransPennine Express, Virgin Trains, and Virgin Trains East Coast.

“There are amber and yellow weather warnings for snow and ice across Britain this week. A red weather warning has been issued for today for parts of Scotland,” National Rail Enquiries said.

“Disruption to your train journey may continue today and tomorrow.

“A number of Train Operating Companies have issued warnings of service changes, or disruption to your journey.”

The official advice is to check with National Rail Enquiries or the train operator before travelling.

Drivers stranded as risk to life warning continues

Hundreds of drivers were trapped on the M80 overnight, with the weather bringing up to a foot of snow to roads in Scotland and the north of England.

The area was covered by the highest possible extreme ‘red’ warning for snow, meaning “widespread damage, travel and power disruption and risk to life is likely,” until 1000 GMT this morning.

Now, a second red alert has been issued for the south west of Britain from north of Cardiff to south of Exeter, as Storm Emma approaches from the Atlantic adding to the ‘Beast from the East’.

The Met Office was urging residents to “take action now to keep yourself and others safe,” and advising those covered by the red alert to avoid travel.