Travel news live: Traffic chaos to hit Christmas getaway as weather warnings issued

Rail passengers the length of Britain face delays and cancellations as a combination of staff shortage and bad weather disrupt schedules.

In southeast England, Great Northern and Thameslink have apologies to passengers for “cancellations and service changes” due to “a shortage of train drivers today”. The rail operators link Cambridge with London, Gatwick airport and the south coast.

On Sunday, passengers on Northern in northwest England will experience widespread cancellations, with all trains axed on six routes including Blackpool South to Preston and Oxenholme to Windermere.

The train operator said: “Recently, we have seen higher levels of cancellations in the North West and for that we are sorry. The underlying reason is train crew availability, in particular on Sundays which is contractually outside of the working week.

In Scotland, links from Glasgow to Oban and Mallaig, and from Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh and Wick are subject to speed restrictions because of high winds. Some rail replacement buses will run.

Douglas Cairns, from Transport Scotland, said road, rail, air and ferry services are “all likely to be affected by the conditions” with possible longer journey times, cancellations and restrictions on bridges.

The Isle of Man Steam Packet Company said its 7.45pm Saturday ferry service from Douglas, Isle of Man to Heysham, Lancashire was cancelled due to the “forecast adverse weather”, along with its 2.15am Sunday service from Heysham to Douglas.

CalMac, which operates ferries to the west coast of Scotland, said possible disruptions and cancellations could affect each of its planned services for Saturday.

The RAC has urged Christmas getaway travellers to “be patient” on the roads and highlighted the M25, M4 and M5 as “crunch points” for delays.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, RAC senior policy officer Rod Dennis said: “Anyone travelling now, I’m looking at the maps, you’ve got a lot of the road largely to yourself.

“But we are expecting things to build up through the course of the morning … If you’re packing up now, this is a good time to travel. There’s a core of about 11 o’clock this morning and between about four and six this afternoon, that’s the core time where we expect the traffic to be heavier.”

When asked if there are particular crunch points of delays the RAC is worried about, Mr Dennis said: “Yeah, I wouldn’t say worried about. I think this is the thing people are going to be well used to, where they’re not able to tear all the cones out and open all the lanes.

“Obviously there’s stretches of the northern part of the M25, part of the M4, the M5, a lot of routes people use for the sorts of journeys they’re going to make ahead of Christmas where they just can’t open all the lanes back up again. So, there’s those to bear in mind.

“What we’re saying to people is just be patient. These are journeys that matter to us this time of year. Just don’t expect to get there the minute your sat-nav says it will. Allow yourself a bit of time to make it easy and get there safely.”

Met Office deputy chief meteorologist Rebekah Hicks said: “We’ll start to see high pressure to the south of the UK bringing in more settled and much milder conditions from Christmas Eve.

“Christmas Day itself will be cloudy for most, although some eastern areas of the UK, most likely eastern Scotland, may see some clear or sunny spells.

“We could see some drizzle across hills in the west, and some more persistent rain is possible for north-west Scotland, but overall it will be a fairly cloudy, nondescript day.

“Conditions on Christmas Day and Boxing Day look to be exceptionally mild for the time of year, especially in the north.

“East and north-east Scotland, for example, could see overnight temperatures that are 10C above average on Christmas morning.”

Weather warnings for wind have come into force across much of the UK as millions more people get away for Christmas.

Roads and public transport could be disrupted by strong gusts as the Met Office forecast a wet and windy weekend for many.

The AA predicted 23.7 million drivers would hit the road on Friday, making it the busiest day on the roads since the group’s records began in 2010.

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The Met Office has warned of severe coastal gales, with other regions of the UK enduing heavy showers and thunder on Saturday.

A post on X read: “Windy on Saturday morning with severe coastal gales in the northwest and a risk of damaging gusts in northwest Scotland later.

“Rain moving southeast with colder and brighter weather following giving a mixture of sunny spells and heavy showers, perhaps with hail and thunder.”

The RAC estimated seven million leisure trips will be made on major roads during the weekend, which excludes everyday traffic.

It predicted that congestion hotspots will be on both directions of the M1 to Gatwick via the M25 and the M23; Liverpool to Chester on the M53; Oxford to the south coast via the A34 and the M3; the M25 to the south coast along the M3; and at the Taunton to Almondsbury Interchange in Bristol heading down the M5.

RAC spokesman Rod Dennis said: “With the weekend bringing a mix of strong winds along with heavy, and in some places wintry, showers, it’s going to make many of the estimated seven million getaway trips by car a pretty exhausting experience.”

British Airways has cancelled at least 26 flights to and from London Heathrow airport. According to the airline’s website, domestic departures to Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Manchester are grounded, along with European links to and from Barcelona, Munich, Rome and elsewhere.

Two BA round-trips from London Heathrow to Dublin have been cancelled, adding to pressure on fares to the Irish capital. With seats scarce – and the main Holyhead-Dublin ferry link out of action for at least three weeks – fares are soaring.

It appears the last seats on the only available British Airways flight from Heathrow to Dublin, at 8.30am, sold at £462, and no more seats are available on the route all day.

Three Ryanair flights from Gatwick to Dublin are selling at £500 or more, though others are available at £260.

The Dutch airline KLM has cancelled one round-trip from Amsterdam to Heathrow, and Swiss has done the same from Zurich.