Train strikes – live: Christmas travel disruption as drivers told ‘avoid roads until 7pm’

Hundreds of airline passengers will not make it home for Christmas

Hundreds of airline passengers will not be home by Christmas, Simon Calder reports.

More than 400 Qantas passengers and crew who were due in Heathrow airport at 6.15am on Thursday are instead on the shore of the Caspian Sea – with their onward journey from Australia to the UK scheduled to depart early on Christmas morning.

Their plane was diverted to Baku in Azerbaijan, due to a smoke alarm from a cargo hold.

Qantas flight QF1 from Sydney via Singapore to London had previously been making good progress for an early morning arrival at Heathrow. The plane turned back over Georgia and flew 400 miles to the Azeri capital, where it landed safely.

Baku airport was the closest in the region with the facilities to handle the world’s biggest passenger plane.

A replacement aircraft is on its way from Sydney to Baku, for a 5.50am departure to Heathrow on 25 December.

Around 250 Aer Lingus passengers are in hotels in New York City after their Thursday evening flight to Dublin turned back and returned to JFK airport shortly after take-off with an engine fault.

Because Dublin airport closes on Christmas Day, the earliest they can return is 26 December.

Maryam Zakir-Hussain24 December 2022 14:30

Train cancelled by strike? Have twice your money back (but only in France)

As train travel in the UK unravels ahead of the next round of national rail walk-outs, across the Channel SNCF (French Railways) is going the extra kilometre to look after hard-pressed travellers.

Rail passengers in France whose trains are cancelled during a strike from Friday to Christmas Day will be reimbursed by twice the cost of their tickets.

Hundreds of guards working for SNCF will stop work over the next two weekends as part of a pay dispute. They have refused a deal offering a €600 (£522) bonus on top of a general 6 per cent pay rise at the rail organisation.

Simon Calder reports:

Maryam Zakir-Hussain24 December 2022 14:00

Network Rail warns travellers to avoid trains until January 9

In a damning indictment of the lamentable state of the railways, Network Rail at London Euston has tweeted a warning to travellers to stay away from trains until 9 January at the earliest, reports Simon Calder.

The tweet – pinned at the top of the account – reads: “December 24 - 8 January: Only travel by train if absolutely necessary.”

Strikes by the RMT and Aslef unions will affect 11 of the 16 days over Christmas and New Year, with overtime bans and planned engineering work hitting services on the remaining days.

The Independent calculates that 250,000 trains will be cancelled between today and 8 January.

Maryam Zakir-Hussain24 December 2022 13:29

Hundreds of Britons rush to get the train home on Christmas Eve

Scores of commuters hoping to reach their destination in the Christmas getaway were watching the departures board at London’s Euston station for updates on their journey.

Hundreds of travellers were filing through the station’s main entrance on Saturday afternoon to get the last trains out of the capital amid travel disruption caused by severe road traffic and strikes decimating train services.

Services to Crewe, Manchester Piccadilly, Glasgow Central and Birmingham International were all delayed with a limited staff presence as travellers waited anxiously with their luggage.

(PA)

Maryam Zakir-Hussain24 December 2022 12:52

Passengers forking out for extra travel costs as strikes continue

Sadiq Habib, 21, said he has had to pay an extra £30 to reach his family in Manchester for Christmas after his train was cancelled.

Mr Habib, from London, was rushing to get the last service up to northwest of England from the capital and took an added financial hit due to the disruption despite having booked a month in advance.

He said: “I was supposed to leave in the evening but then my train got cancelled and I got told I had to get an earlier train.

“I purchased my initial ticket a month when the prices were fine, but now I think I’ve had to pay £30 extra. In an ideal situation we would not have to do this but I get it because everyone else is also in the same boat.”

Mr Habib was confident festive spirits would not be dampened by the travel chaos, adding: “At least I get to go.

“I’m most looking forward to seeing the cousins and meeting my friends.”

Maryam Zakir-Hussain24 December 2022 12:25

Brexit means no British manufacturer able to build UK government’s ministerial cars

The government’s next fleet of armoured ministerial cars will be made in Germany because supply chain issues hampered by Brexit mean no British manufacturer is able to meet its requirements, The Independent has learned.

The Metropolitan Police announced over the summer that it was ditching armoured Jaguar XJs for Baden-Württemberg-assembled Audi A8s – prompting criticism.

But it has now been revealed that the decision was made because there no British car maker is “able to meet the requirements of the tender”, forcing the Met’s hand.

Last year, UK car production hit its lowest level since 1956, amid skills shortages and supply chain issues worsened by Brexit and the pandemic.

Our policy correspondent Jon Stone has more:

Maryam Zakir-Hussain24 December 2022 12:05

Christmas rail travel: Which trains are running from December until the second week of January?

With many hundreds of trains being cancelled even on a day with no strikes, rail passengers in Britain face the most relentless disruption to journeys in a lifetime.

Between Thursday 22 December and Sunday 8 January, The Independent calculates that up to a quarter of a million trains will not run as they would in normal times – as festive engineering work and staff shortage exacerbate the worst strike action since the 1980s.

The leading cause of disruption is the sustained series of strikes by members of the RMT union. In the past six months workers for Network Rail – the infrastructure provider – and around a dozen train operators have walked out on 12 days.

Our travel correspondent Simon Calder reports:

Maryam Zakir-Hussain24 December 2022 11:40

In pictures: People waiting at train stations as strikes continue

(EPA)

(EPA)

(EPA)

Maryam Zakir-Hussain24 December 2022 11:12

Drivers warned of ‘traffic nightmare’ during Christmas journeys amid road staff strikes

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Motorists have been warned that their journey home for Christmas could spiral into a “nightmare” as traffic surges to pre-pandemic levels and road workers stage four days of strikes.

Close to 17 million drivers are expected on the roads on Friday and Christmas eve, according to the AA, with others estimating that a third of regular train users will choose to travel by car instead in the face of wide-scale industrial action by rail workers.

But drivers could face a higher-than-usual risk of “life-threatening” delays for assistance in the event of a motorway breakdown, as frontline National Highways staff also walk out from Thursday until Christmas in London and the South East as part of an industrial dispute.

Andy Gregory reports:

Maryam Zakir-Hussain24 December 2022 10:23

Christmas Eve travellers race to reach their destinations as rail strikes hit

As the next national rail strike approaches, train travellers are racing to reach their destinations – while thousand of airline passengers face long delays.

In normal years, trains normally finish at mid-evening on Christmas Eve. But RMT union members working for Network Rail will stop work at 6pm, and train operators are racing to get rolling stock and staff back to depots before the walk-out begins. Last trains from many locations are in the morning, with all services ending by mid-afternoon.

The final direct train to London has already left Edinburgh, while no trains at all are running on East Midlands Railways’ main line linking London with Leicester, Derby, Nottingham and Sheffield due to a separate strike by members of the Unite union.

Our travel correspondent Simon Calder reports:

Maryam Zakir-Hussain24 December 2022 10:05