Britons were warned to expect a washout final weekend of 2023 as strong winds return after Storm Gerrit sparked days of road and rail chaos following Christmas.
Rail operators told revellers to travel to parties today amid concerns over further disruption and staff shortages when severe weather strikes in the next two days – with one operator issuing a ‘do not travel’ alert for some routes on New Year’s Eve.
The Met Office warned this weekend would be unsettled with high winds, rain and even snow as a deep area of low pressure moves in from the west tomorrow.
Travel continued to be affected by the storm today, with rail disruption in Wales and Scotland – while LNER cancelled some trains this morning due to staff shortages and other services faced speed restrictions due to a signalling fault north of Newcastle.
Avanti West Coast passengers also faced further cancellations today after all London Euston trains were axed yesterday afternoon amid four separate incidents including a person being hit by a train, a points failure, a tree falling on the line and flooding.
Other disruption today included on London Underground’s Central and Circle lines due to train shortages and cancellations; Merseyrail due to a signalling fault; and on East Midlands Railway due to a broken down train at Grimsby. It comes as:
Northern, which runs 2,500 services through 500 stations daily, said customers with tickets for New Year’s Eve could use them today or tomorrow to avoid disruption.
The UK’s second largest train operator issued a ‘do not travel’ warning for six routes with no service on New Year’s Eve – including Morecambe or Heysham to Lancaster; Preston to Colne; Manchester Victoria to Chester; Manchester Piccadilly to Chester via Altrincham; Manchester Victoria to Stalybridge; and Clitheroe to Bolton.
Dawn breaks over the Oxfordshire countryside in the village of Dunsden this morning
Sunrise at Dunsden in Oxfordshire this morning after Storm Gerrit passed through Britain
The Environment Agency issued 128 flood alerts (in amber) and 34 warnings (in red) today
Other routes across North West England will also have a reduced service on New Year’s Eve ‘due to train crew unavailability’ and are expected to finish early at 4pm.
Fellow operator CrossCountry, which calls at 120 stations over its 1,500-mile network and has faced recent staff shortages, said New Year’s Eve trains would be ‘extremely busy’, also warning of ‘last-minute cancellations’ and an earlier finish than usual.
And Chiltern Railways told of a ‘high risk of short notice cancellations and disruption’ on all routes this weekend ‘due to a shortage of train crew’. Engineering works at Stoke Mandeville in Buckinghamshire on New Year’s Eve will compound the misery.
ScotRail warned services will ‘begin to wind down’ from 7pm on New Year’s Eve.
Meanwhile engineering works continued to affect Greater Anglia trains through Chelmsford and London Victoria station has no Southeastern services until New Year’s Day.
But Andy Street, Conservative mayor of the West Midlands, criticised ‘self-inflicted’ cancellations from crew shortages and urged rail firms to provide more clarity.
He told the Daily Telegraph: ‘Come clean now, that’s what people need. I would prefer to know well in advance what is happening so it can be communicated to passenger and they can make their plans.
‘The worst possible thing is a last-minute change, particularly late trains being cancelled.’
Mr Street said he understood it would be ‘tricky’ for operators who are replying on voluntary working, but added: ‘My insistence is that we know early what is happening.’
Northern chief executive Tricia Williams said: ‘Unfortunately, customers travelling over the new year period should expect disruption.
‘This is due to limited train crew availability in some areas and planned engineering works. We strongly advise customers to ‘check before you travel’ on these days.’
ScotRail said many lines have been reopened but urged passengers to check for the latest information before travelling due to speed restrictions and some replacement buses.
It confirmed this morning that the only line that had not yet reopened was Dumfries to Kilmarnock, where Network Rail engineers needed to check the area following further bad weather.
Transport for Wales said the aftermath of the recent severe weather will see rail services hampered until Monday – including the Llandudno to Blaenau Ffestiniog line. The Swansea to Shrewsbury line was also closed.
LNER, Avanti West Coast and London Northwestern Railway were among the other operators urging customers to check before they travel today.
As for the forecast, the Met Office said an area of low pressure pushing in from the west tomorrow will be the ‘most dominant feature’ in the forecast leading up to the New Year.
While the severe conditions brought by Storm Gerrit have now eased, today will continue to be blustery with showers and central locations were likely to see the brightest conditions.
During the early hours of tomorrow morning, a ‘potentially deep area of low pressure’ will move in from the west to affect Ireland and western parts of the UK.
As this system moves eastwards, forecasters said the boundary between the area of low pressure and the relatively colder conditions further north and east will lead to a band of transient snow across some of the high ground of northern England and Scotland.
The Met Office added that it was ‘possible this snow could fall to lower levels for a brief period of time across Scotland’.
Met Office chief forecaster Steven Ramsdale added: ‘This system is likely to bring a range of weather including hill snow.
‘Heavy rain will spread across all but the far north on Saturday affecting similar areas previously affected by Storm Gerrit. However, this rainfall will be a step down from that seen during Storm Gerrit.’
Looking further ahead into 2024, Met Office deputy chief forecaster Nick Silkstone said: ‘Through to mid-January, there is a signal for a shift in the pattern compared to the winter so far, with more settled and colder-than-average conditions becoming increasingly likely.’
It comes as thousands of homes remain without power as the post-storm cleanup begins in the wake of Storm Gerrit.
Around 1,500 homes in Scotland experienced their second night without power in Scotland while a lightning strike hit supplies in Wales yesterday.
Power company Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks said it had restored supply to more than 46,000 properties that lost power due to the storm, with people in the north east and Shetland worst affected.
They said the remaining homes should be reconnected today with welfare vans serving hot food and drink to affected customers from 9am.
Operations director Andy Smith said: ‘This has been a difficult couple of days for the communities affected and I’m grateful to them for their patience and support as our teams work extremely hard to restore power.’
Chaotic scenes at London Euston once again yesterday as passengers wait for travel updates
Rail passengers queue to get inside Glasgow Central yesterday for a London-bound train
Passengers wait at a barrier at London Paddington yesterday while all services are suspended
Damaged houses in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester, yesterday after Wednesday’s tornado
Residents in the Kinloss Park area of Cupar in Scotland clean up yesterday after flooding
Flooded fields on the Somerset Levels yesterday after Storm Gerrit brought severe weather
Around 100 properties were damaged by what police called a ‘localised tornado’ in Stalybridge, Tameside and in the badly-hit village of Carrbrook.
Hayley McCaffer, 40, who lives in Carrbrook, said that some of her neighbours’ houses ‘are an absolute disaster’ with missing roofs and ‘squished’ cars.
Damage will be covered by standard property insurance policies, the Association of British Insurers has said.
Ferry services also experienced cancellations and delays due to storm yesterday with operator DFDS confirming sailings between Dover and France were delayed due to strong winds in the English Channel.
Air travel in and out of the UK saw cancellations but most services have returned to normal.
