Thousands of air, cruise and rail passengers had their travel plans thrown into chaos over the weekend due to Storm Bert.
By mid-morning on Sunday, 238 flights to and from the UK had been cancelled, including 14% of all London Heathrow departures and 13% of Heathrow arrivals.
The cancellations followed a day of travel of disruption on Saturday, when almost 250 UK flights were cancelled, amounting to 6% of all departures and arrivals. At Heathrow, 7% of outbound and 8% of inbound flights were grounded.
And Ambassador Cruise Line’s Ambition is still docked in Tilbury after stormy weather meant it was unable to make the North Sea crossing to Amsterdam, the first leg of a three-day roundtrip cruise, on Saturday evening.
In a message to passengers, Ambassador said attempting the crossing would have been ‘very uncomfortable’ for passengers and crew. Furthermore, it said the bad conditions meant the Port of Tilbury wouldn’t allow Ambition to leave, and the delayed departure meant it would miss the high tide in Antwerp, where it was due to call today.
As a result, it said it would remain in Tilbury until Tuesday, adding: “We understand this news may be disappointing for Ambition guests, but we would rather remain in port than risk safety on any North Sea crossing or attempt to access Antwerp at a time when the tides will not be in our favour.”
Rail passengers are being warned of potential ongoing disruption today due to flooding in the UK.
The Met Office has removed its bad weather warnings today, but it said strong winds persist and swollen rivers could cause further flooding.
Passengers heading to or from London Stansted Airport are being warned of ‘major’ disruption on the rail link between Broxbourne, Hertfordshire and the airport until 2pm today.
Great Western Railway is advising passengers not to travel on any of its routes today. It says it has suspended services on all key routes after flooding and fallen trees blocked access at key locations on its network.
