On Friday, the Christmas travel plans were still being disrupted with significant delays for trips across the English Channel, closures on major highways, and cancellations of train services. This is all happening on one of the busiest travel days of the year.
The Port of Dover in Kent reported that it was currently taking approximately one hour to process cars prior to French border checks during the late afternoon.
Earlier in the day, the wait time for ferries was 90 minutes due to a sudden increase in demand. This was caused by the closure of the Channel tunnel rail link on Thursday, as French workers engaged in unscheduled industrial action.
Eurostar, the company that runs trains between London St Pancras and Paris, added two additional services per day until Christmas Eve to assist passengers whose trains were cancelled on Thursday.
Eurotunnel’s train service for transporting vehicles was operating on its regular schedule, but was only allowing customers with prior bookings.
The M20 motorway in Kent is currently closed in the coast bound direction between junctions 8 and 9 due to Operation Brock. This operation is designed to manage the flow of freight traffic during disruptions to cross-Channel services.
According to National Highways, this is leading to delays of 45 minutes, as tourist traffic is being redirected to utilize nearby roads.
The report stated that a portable wall made of concrete, which was expensive to install, has not been utilized to establish a contraflow system for keeping the motorway open in both directions. This is because setting it up required the closure of the road overnight. The implementation of Operation Brock was anticipated to end by Saturday morning at the latest.
This week, the RAC predicted that there will be around 3.2 million car trips to see loved ones on Friday. However, they cautioned that the roads may be congested as commuters and commercial vehicles share the same routes before the weekend. They advised drivers to wait until after 6pm to start their journeys in order to avoid the heaviest traffic.
The RAC recommended that travelers leave as early as they can on Saturday, which is predicted to be the busiest day for traffic.
The actions taken by French employees at Eurotunnel contributed to further disturbances across the UK as a result of Storm Pia, which knocked down trees on railways throughout Britain. While the storm did not reach a level worthy of being named in the UK, it had already been given a name by Danish officials.
The weather experts have also cautioned about the possibility of strong winds on Christmas Eve. Scotland, as well as northern and central England, are predicted to experience gusts reaching up to 70mph on Sunday.
According to RAC spokesperson Rod Dennis, the current weather warning could potentially disrupt last-minute travel plans for those in Scotland and parts of northern England.
On Thursday, the east coast mainline between London and Manchester was closed due to weather conditions. However, it was back in operation the following day.
On Friday morning, the Met Office had lifted weather warnings for the majority of the UK. However, train services from Edinburgh to Inverness and areas north of Inverness may still be affected. High winds from the remains of the storm are causing disruptions, resulting in the use of rail replacement buses. The storm is currently moving eastward towards Europe.
Train services in both Birmingham and Norwich were also affected due to a fallen tree and flooding caused by the storm.
On Friday, the labor union for employees of the London Underground announced the possibility of multiple days of strike action in January. The RMT stated that its members will participate in “rolling strikes” in the upcoming year, with 90% of voting members in support of this decision.
Between January 5th and 12th, various groups of workers will be participating in action, with the exception of January 11th. The RMT stated that they deem Transport for London’s offer of a 5% pay increase, below the inflation rate, as unacceptable, especially in comparison to the 11% pay raise given to the body’s commissioner.
Source: theguardian.com
