Getaway gets off to a slow start with rail and air delays

Travellers were today hit by more delays and cancellations as the great Christmas getaway fell victim to the weather.

Dozens of flights were cancelled, thousands queued outside St Pancras station in the hope of catching a Eurostar train, and commuters were trapped on peak-hour trains for hours.

EasyJet cancelled 50 flights across Europe — including 12 at Stansted, 10 at Gatwick and four at Luton — while delays were reported at other London airports.

An estimated 2,000 people queued along Euston Road as they waited for hours to secure a Eurostar seat. Belgian couple Catherine Creveis and Mathieu Verbeeck started queuing at 9am and were still waiting at midday to catch a train home to Brussels to spend Christmas with their family.

Ms Creveis said: "It's been horrible. It's been raining and cold. We were booked to travel today. I'm just relieved that we can actually catch a train today after what happened at the weekend."

Bill Ward, a chef, and lawyer Stacey Lulham, both 27 of Shoreditch, were booked on the 8.30am train to Paris but were still queuing at midday.

Ms Lulham said: "We were meant to be spending Christmas in Paris and as long as we get there today I don't mind however long we have to queue."

A Eurostar spokeswoman said the backlog of passengers from Saturday and Sunday had now been cleared and that all passengers meant to travel up until today would be able to catch a train by this evening. The spokeswoman said: "We are operating on a first come, first served basis for anyone with a ticket valid today."

The operator is running a two-thirds service of approximately two trains an hour, carrying 750 passengers each. Passengers without a ticket were told not to turn up as they would be unlikely to get on board.

Hundreds of commuters were trapped on London-bound trains when a Southeastern train broke down north of Sevenoaks around 6am. Around a dozen trains are thought to have become stuck behind the broken train before they were able to reverse into Sevenoaks station.

Travellers attempting to reach the capital by road faced a gridlocked A21, as a result of treacherous conditions. Temperatures in Kent had plunged to minus 4 degrees.

One Southeastern passenger, Amanda Murphy, said her 6.15am train from Sevenoaks — which should have taken 35 minutes to reach Charing Cross — became stuck until the driver was able to reverse back into the station, after having its route north blocked by a broken train at Dunton Green. Around 100 people were on board.

"We sat there for around an hour or so behind it," Ms Murphy said. "Then the driver went to the other end of the train and said he was going to try to drive the train back to Sevenoaks. That was when the conductor rail froze as well."

The train returned to Sevenoaks — at around 8.35am. "At that time there were no trains at all from Sevenoaks," she said.

A Southeastern spokesman said the company hoped to resume services from Sevenoaks this afternoon.

Police were forced to close the westbound carriageway on the M27 when ice caused an 18-vehicle pile-up at 7am near Southampton. No one was seriously hurt. The AA estimated that around 1.5 million Londoners would attempt to make road journeys today or tomorrow.

Rail
The Southern rail firm, which operates routes from the Sussex coast, including the Brighton Line, into Victoria, was again the worst affected. It had delays on services to Brighton, Three Bridges, Gatwick Airport, Redhill, East Croydon, London Bridge and Victoria. At least 30 trains were cancelled. Southeastern suspended services between Hastings and Tunbridge Wells, and its trains through Sevenoaks and Ashford were also affected. Eurostar continued to run a limited service from St Pancras.

Air
EasyJet cancelled at least 20 flights in and out of London airports this morning. All London airports were open today and runways were operating as normal, but passengers were warned to expect delays and cancellations — and were "strongly advised" to check their flight's status before leaving home. A Luton airport spokeswoman said airlines apart from easyJet were operating normally, while BA said its flights were unaffected.

Roads
Major routes out of London were reported to be flowing smoothly, though freezing fog and icy conditions threatened to make driving hazardous. The A27 between Brighton and Eastbourne was closed, and there were delays on the southbound carriageways of the M1 near Luton and the M27 at Southampton. The AA warned that traffic could get heavy on the M25, M1 and M4 later today.

Tube
There was a part-suspension of the Wimbledon District line for a time because overnight engineering work overran. The Jubilee line was running this morning with minor delays, but otherwise there was a good service on the Underground. Tomorrow Tubes and buses will run the equivalent of a Saturday service until 7pm, after which services will be less frequent.