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FRIGHT CHRISTMAS
UK weather: ‘Miles of cars’ trapped in snow & trains cancelled in Storm Gerrit chaos with Brits told ‘don’t travel’
Drivers have been warned of potentially hazardous conditions
MILES of cars are trapped in snow and trains cancelled as Storm Gerrit wreaks travel chaos across Britain.
A major incident was declared on the A9 in the Scottish Highlands as emergency services were scrambled.
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Police Scotland said they were dealing with the incident between Drumochter and Dalwhinnie as rescue teams prioritise the vulnerable amid "severe conditions".
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Earlier the Met Office warned some areas of the Highlands could see between 10-20cm of snow.
Disruption on the A9 saw Rangers' SPL game against Ross County called off after the latter's team bus was unable to reach Glasgow.
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A spokesperson for Highland Council said: "A major incident has been declared for A9 due to miles of vehicles stuck in the snow between Drumochter and Dalwhinnie.
"Partner agencies are providing assistance to those trapped, prioritising most vulnerable, and turning vehicles around at north and south of the closure.
"Conditions are very severe. We are advising people not to travel on A9 today between Inverness and Dalwhinnie."
Extraordinary pictures show how Bowling station in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, turned into a canal as water flooded the tracks.
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Meanwhile at least eighteen British Airways flights due in and out of Heathrow were axed as 70mph winds, heavy rain and snow continue to batter the UK.
Thousands of travellers hoping to return to Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Jersey and Manchester had their plans ripped up.
And those bound for Barcelona, Berlin, Madrid and Paris Charles de Gaulle had their journeys canned as air traffic control brought in a raft of travel restrictions.
A British Airways spokesman apologised to customers for the disruption and said they are working hard to get travellers on their way "as quickly as possible".
The cancellations come as yellow wind and rain warnings are in place across most of the country.
Drivers across the UK are being warned of potentially hazardous conditions on their way home from the Christmas holidays.
The M48 Severn Bridge in Gloucestershire is currently closed in both directions due to strong winds, National Highways said.
Drivers are advised to use the M4 Prince of Wales Bridge as an alternate route.
And motorists on the M62 near Manchester faced congestion as Britain's road network ground to a halt amid the storm.
Meanwhile the Environment Agency were seen erecting flood barriers along the River Severn in Ironbridge, Shrops, as Storm Gerrit rolled in.
'ABSOLUTE SHAMBLES'
It came as three hour queues plagued the Port of Dover in Kent today, as travellers branded the situation an "absolute shambles" with "no information".
Frustrated motorists got out of their vehicles while kids darted through traffic to get to toilets in scenes described as "absolute chaos".
Paul Jennings, a British citizen heading home to France, said he arrived in Dover at 10.30am this morning and was still stuck in the queue at 1.30pm.
He told The Sun: "Spoken to the only traffic management person and they have no information to share.
"Parents and children walking across car, coach and outward traffic lanes to get to toilets.
"It's the lack of information that makes it so dangerous as people are walking through lanes to try and find out what is happening."
One person said they had moved just "a few metres" in over two hours of queuing.
Parents and children walking across car, coach and outward traffic lanes to get to toilets
Paul Jennings, Brit stuck at Port of Dover
There was also disruption to DFDS Seaways ferries between Dover and Dunkirk due to high demand and bad weather, the firm said.
The Port of Dover said queue delays, which appear to have ended, were because of staff sickness among French border officials.
Ferry operator Red Funnel, which provides services between Southampton and Cowes on the Isle of Wight, warned customers to expect cancellations on its Red Jet passenger services due to strong winds.
Hovercraft services between Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight are currently suspended.
RAIL DISRUPTION
Travel disruption has also hit Britain's rail network hard today.
Network Rail Scotland earlier imposed speed restrictions on and travellers urged to check for cancellations.
Problems with two Christmas rail engineering work projects are also causing major disruption.
Services at the southern end of the Midland Main Line between St Albans and London St Pancras are affected by a fault with the signalling system, while overrunning engineering work caused misery for many Southeastern passengers.
East Midlands Railway said the signalling issue is preventing it from running services between London St Pancras and Luton Airport, meaning thousands of passengers risk missing flights.
Thameslink services to and from the airport are also affected, with many trains cancelled or severely delayed.
Network Rail, which is responsible for rail infrastructure, said the fault is related to work over Christmas by technology company Siemens to install a new system to control signals on the Midland Main Line.
Gary Walsh, route director for Network Rail, said: "I am very sorry that our engineering work is affecting passengers today.
"There is a fault with part of the signalling control system which means we need to reduce the number of trains which are able to run.
"Siemens signalling engineers are working to restore a reliable system as soon as possible.";
Shortly before 8am on Wednesday Southeastern warned passengers there was "severe disruption across much of the network" due to "engineering works not finished on time" in the Nunhead area of south-east London.
Lines between the capital and Bromley South, Swanley, Orpington and Sevenoaks were blocked until around 9am, but disruption continued later as trains were out of position.
Met Office meteorologist Simon Partridge said the storm was named as a warning to people coming home after the Christmas holidays.
He said: "Due to the extent of the warnings that are being issued, it was deemed that a named storm would be a good idea because it will highlight to the public the risk associated, particularly as tomorrow is likely to be quite a busy day on the roads with people travelling back home from Christmas and things like that."
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Mr Partridge said wet and windy weather will cover "pretty much the whole of the UK", with significant snowfall in parts of Scotland.
A yellow rain and snow warning is in place from 6am to 9pm across much of Scotland on Wednesday.
"There are wind warnings out for the south of England, across the English Channel coast," Mr Partridge added.
"But we also have wind warnings in force for parts of western Wales, north-west England, Northern Ireland, northern Scotland and the Northern Isles."
He said only the central section of the UK does not have a wind warning.
Wind warning areas can expect gusts of 50-60mph, with up to 70mph on high ground and exposed coasts.
"In terms of rain, we have rain warnings out for the whole of Northern Ireland, western Wales, north-west England, and then there's a combined sort of rain and snow warning for Scotland," Mr Partridge said.
Rain in the warning areas is forecast to be between 40-60mm, with the potential for 70-90mm in the western hills of Wales and the western side of the Pennines.
There is a chance of power cuts, as well as a small chance that homes and businesses could be flooded.
Storm Gerrit will transition gradually to the northeast late on Wednesday and into Thursday.
Further unsettled weather is likely later in the week, with strong winds, rain and some upland snow.
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Last week, people travelling for Christmas were among those affected as Storm Pia lashed parts of the UK in the countdown to the festive season.
Winds of more than 80mph battered northern parts of the UK, with gusts of 81mph recorded at Brizlee Wood near Alnwick, Northumberland, and at Baltasound on Shetland, with 70mph gusts reported elsewhere in the North East of England.
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