Travel news - live: London Underground suffers delays and suspensions on all but two lines amid Storm Eunice
Following Storm Dudley, Storm Eunice is set to cause delays and cancellations for travellers
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Your support makes all the difference.Storm Eunice is causing UK-wide travel disruption as the country is battered by winds of up to 100mph.
GWR, Great Anglia and Southeastern have all suspended all services for the rest of the day; as have South Western, Chiltern Railways, and the Heathrow and Stansted Express.
In the capital, the London Underground could grind to a halt as extreme weather has affected all but two lines on the Transport for London (TfL) network.
Meanwhile, all trains from Euston station have been cancelled.
A red weather warning is now in place across various parts of the country, with turbulent winds causing havoc for pilots trying to land at Heathrow airport; earlier today, London City Airport suspended all flights.
Train operators and ferry firms are also warning people not to attempt to travel today. All rail services in Wales are suspended for the entire day, with disruption to services expected to continue into the weekend.
Rail passengers who do try to make journeys face much slower trips, with emergency speed restrictions in place and sharply reduced services.
On the Irish Sea, some ferries have been cancelled amid the wild weather.
London City Airport cancels all flights
All flights in and out of London City Airport are cancelled until at least 16:30 today.
London Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and other airports are all facing delays due to the strong winds and extreme weather. Many pilots have had to make a “go around” while trying to land during Storm Eunice.
At present, the live departures board has the 16:40 BA flight to Edinburgh as the first scheduled to run; while the 17:00 to Frankfurt has been cancelled, along with the 17:05 to Dusseldorf and the 17:15 Lufthansa service to Frankfurt.
Passengers for all London airports are advised to check their flight is still running before leaving home.
Diversionary tactics
With severe winds in the London area, numerous flights have diverted.
At Gatwick, easyJet’s main base, multiple incoming flights have touched down elsewhere.
The early morning easyJet flight from Bordeaux to London Gatwick made two attempts at landing before returning to its starting point after a three-hour, 1,000-mile diversion.
Since then, an inbound flight from Geneva on the budget airline is currently at Paris CDG, while an easyJet flight from Munich to Gatwick landed at Manchester.
Passengers from Puerto Vallarta in Mexico on a Tui Boeing 787 Dreamliner also landed at Manchester after the plane was unable to land at Gatwick.
A jet from Helsinki to Gatwick belonging to Norwegian diverted to Copenhagen after also rejecting landings due to high winds.
Passengers on the overnight British Airways from Chicago are in Switzerland. Their Boeing 787 made two unsuccessful attempts to land at London Heathrow. It then flew to Geneva, but for reasons that are unclear it continued to Zurich instead.
BA planes from Bucharest and Venice diverted to Newcastle, while a flight from Edinburgh to Heathrow returned to Edinburgh. British Airways passengers from Istanbul ended up at Stansted in Essex rather than Heathrow.
Many other airlines have been affected. A Lufthansa flight from Munich returned there after being unable to land in London.
From Lisbon, TAP Portugal’s flight to Heathrow diverted to Paris Orly. Royal Jordanian from Amman to Heathrow went no further than Athens, while Middle East Airlines from Beirut touched down at Frankfurt.
Planes visibly shaken by 100mph winds as they struggle to land at Heathrow airport
Video filmed at Heathrow airport shows planes visibly shaken by high-speed winds as they attempt to land.
In one clip shared on social media, a British Airways aircraft approaches the runway but is forced to perform a “go-around” – increasing altitude in order to make a second landing attempt – after being battered by winds that see it sway dramatically from side to side.
“New pants please!” reads the video caption on Twitter, accompanying footage taken by Big Jet TV’s live stream from the airport.
Watch the video:
Planes visibly shaken by 100mph winds as they struggle to land at Heathrow airport
Footage shows aircraft forced to perform a ‘go around’ amid Storm Eunice
Sixteen fallen trees blocking South Western Railway lines
The scale of the problems facing train operators and Network Rail as Storm Eunice causes travel havoc is shown in a list produced by South Western Railway. It shows no fewer than 16 fallen trees in the network.
The train firm runs in and out of the UK’s busiest station, London Waterloo
British Airways updates advice to passengers
BA, which has so far cancelled more than 120 flights as Storm Eunice takes hold, has updated its message to passengers.
It reads: “Due to the extreme weather conditions across the UK and resulting restrictions on the number of aircraft that can take-off and land each hour, we, like other airlines, are experiencing significant disruption.
“We’re operating as many flights as we can and putting on larger aircraft where possible. Customers due to travel on a short-haul service today can rebook for free on ba.com.
“Those whose flights have been cancelled are being contacted to offer options including a full refund.
“Safety is always our priority and we’re encouraging customers to check the latest flight information on ba.com before heading to the airport.”
Rejected landings continue at London airports
A flight operated by Norwegian appears to be returning to Helsinki after making two attempts at landing at London Gatwick. Flight D82766 from the Finnish capital had made the 1,150-mile trip to the Sussex airport. But after two rejected touchdowns due to high winds the Boeing 737 appears to be returning to Heathrow.
It follows an early easyJet flight from Bordeaux in southwest France that also made two landing attempts at Gatwick before returning to its starting point.
An inbound British Airways flight from Istanbul to Heathrow diverted to Stansted after a “go-around” at the west London airport.
The early Royal Jordanian flight from Amman to London Heathrow diverted to Athens. It is not clear when it might continue its journey.
BA storm cancellations rise to more than 120
British Airways has now cancelled more than120 flights as a result of the severe winds brought by Storm Eunice.
A large majority are to and from London Heathrow airport. All storm-related cancellations so far are for domestic and European links.
“New” cancellations announced on the day include links to Oslo, Nice and Moscow.
BA is telling passengers: “If your short-haul flight is still operating on 18 February 2022 and you wish to change travel dates, you can do so for free up to and including 21 February 2022, by visiting Manage My Booking.
“If your flight has been cancelled, you can visit Manage My Booking to view rebooking or refund options.”
Passengers whose flights are cancelled are entitled to be flown to their destination as soon as possible, even if it means British Airways buying a flight on another airline.
Rail lines in South East blocked by trees and debris
No trains are running between one of London’s leading rail hubs, Liverpool Street, and Hackney Downs. “All lines are blocked,” reports National Rail. “Trains running between stations may be cancelled or delayed. Disruption is expected until 11am.”
A tree is blocking the railway at Overton in Hampshire. “Trains between Salisbury and Basingstoke may be cancelled, delayed or revised,” says National Rail. “This is expected until 12 noon”. Journeys on South Western Railway to and from London Waterloo are affected.
Northwest of the capital, a tree has fallen on the Chiltern line between Amersham and Great Missenden, halting trains.
Almost all train operators are warning against travel on Friday.
National Highways issues severe weather alert for all motorways
The Met Office has taken the unusual step of issuing a severe weather alert with National Highways for strong winds covering the whole of the country’s strategic road network – which includes all motorways and some A roads – from 6am to 6pm.
High-sided vehicles and other “vulnerable” vehicles such as caravans and motorbikes could be blown over so should avoid bridges and viaducts, National Highways said.
National Highways head of road safety Jeremy Phillips urged those travelling to “plan your trip and take extra care, allowing more time for your journey”, adding: “In high winds, there’s a particular risk to lorries, caravans and motorbikes so we’d advise drivers of these vehicles to slow down.”
“Drivers of other vehicles should be aware of sudden gusts of wind which can affect handling and braking, and give high-sided vehicles, caravans, and motorbikes plenty of space. In the event of persistent high winds we may need to close bridges to traffic for a period, so please be alert for warnings of closures and follow signed diversion routes,” he added.
TfL advises people not to travel
Transport for London (TfL) has issued a Red Weather Warning and advised passengers not to travel today.
In an email to customers, TfL wrote: “Due to the Met Office’s red warning over Storm Eunice, customers are advised to only travel if essential.
“We are doing all we can to ensure we are prepared for any impact with extra staff ready to respond quickly to any incidents but some services will be affected by the extreme weather.
“Check before you travel or our TfL Go app can help you plan your journey.
“Please take care if you travel.”
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