Travel chaos eases as weather relents

The travel chaos that hit Britain during icy conditions earlier this week eased as the weather relented today, giving many travellers a belated opportunity to get away for Christmas.

Most main roads were relatively clear, although motorists were told to expect ice even on gritted routes as subzero temperatures continued.

Temperatures are likely to fall below -10C (14F) in central and western England tonight, and airlines and rail operators have warned of continuing delays and cancellations.

Forecasters said parts of Scotland and possibly north-east England were the only places likely to see snow falling on Christmas Day, although heavy snow may be more widespread on Boxing Day.

Andrew Howard, the head of road safety at the AA, warned drivers: "When you get to -10, even if the road has been treated, you really need to treat it as untreated."

The AA has advice for drivers on its website, pointing out that stopping distances are 10 times longer in ice and snow.

This morning, the west coast main line operator Virgin Trains said some services were subject to delays of up to an hour, with trains to and from Glasgow Central and Manchester Piccadilly most affected.

National Express East Anglia and Stansted Express services were running to a reduced timetable, as were services operated by the Northern Rail train company.

The East Coast train company axed eight London to Leeds services and ran amended services on other routes. First Capital Connect, London Midland, Chiltern, Merseyrail and Scotrail were among other companies cancelling some services.

Bob Crow, the leader of the RMT transport union, said: "It's a scandal that the private train operating companies can simply chop 25% of their services, install a 'special' timetable and avoid financial penalty.

"This racket shows that the private rail franchise system is rigged in favour of the train operators and means that they can provide what services they like, when they like, leaving passengers out in the cold while the train companies are laughing all the way to the bank."

After major disruption to Eurostar trains this week, the company said in a statement that it expected to run a "near normal" service today, adding that passengers should arrive at the normal check-in time for their trains.

British Airways said it was hoping to operate all its long-haul flights at Heathrow airport, along with most short-haul services.

Where possible, the company was flying larger long-haul aircraft to European cities to increase its seat capacity, and was also hiring extra aircraft to help fly as many passengers as possible.

A BA statement said: "In an attempt to free up even more seats, we are continuing to encourage customers who hold bookings to or from Heathrow up until the end of New Year's Eve to either re-book for a later date or claim a full refund if their journey is not essential."

Other UK airports cancelled some short-haul flights because of continuing bad weather in Europe. At Birmingham airport, flights to and from Brussels and Paris were affected, while Aberdeen and Edinburgh warned passengers to expect delays and cancellations.

Much warmer temperatures are expected in some parts of the UK by the middle of next week. Steven Davenport, a senior forecaster at MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said: "This is certainly the coldest December since 1981, but where it stands in the all-time cold Decembers rather depends on what happens in the next few days.

"This December has the potential to be the coldest since 1890 when the central England temperature [an average for the month] was as low as -0.8C.

"But a system is moving in from the Atlantic that will bring less cold air. This could lead to heavy and prolonged snow on the night of Boxing Day and into next Monday, but after that temperatures in south-west England, and possibly London, could be as high as 10C by Wednesday."