Stranded passengers’ hopes raised

BAA has said it will investigate how Heathrow handled the winter weather

Thousands of rail and air passengers stranded because of snow may finally be on the move as travel operators begin tackling lengthy backlogs.

Heathrow Airport plans to run two-thirds of flights, and Eurostar and the East Coast mainline from London to Scotland expect a near-normal service.

But several airports across the UK are still warning of disruption, including Edinburgh, Birmingham and Gatwick.

Heavy snow warnings remain for Wales, the Midlands and eastern England.

Heathrow reopened its second runway on Tuesday evening, but warned travellers not to expect services to return to normal straight away.

It told passengers to travel to the airport only if their departure was confirmed, and said it was working with airlines to return to a normal schedule as quickly as possible.

The Independent’s travel editor, Simon Calder, said the situation at Heathrow would get worse on Wednesday.

He told BBC Breakfast: “Everybody thinks ‘oh well they’ve got both runways open, things will improve’. I’m afraid the backlog today is only going to increase – by another 60,000 people.”

Cross-channel operator Eurostar said it was planning to run 43 out of 52 services from London St Pancras on Wednesday.

It advised passengers to turn up only if they have a valid ticket, and only an hour before they travel.

East Coast trains said journeys northwards from London King’s Cross would take an extra 15 minutes after damage to overhead power lines near Huntingdon on Tuesday led it to suspend services between London and Peterborough.

Some trains between King’s Cross and Leeds are cancelled.

Meanwhile, heavy snow has been falling in Wales, Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire, causing major problems on the roads.

And there are severe delays on the M5 in Worcestershire and M1 in Northamptonshire.

Forecasters have warned that cold weather is likely to continue in the coming days. In parts of northern Scotland overnight, temperatures plummeted to -20.1C.

In Wales, 70 schools still yet to break up for Christmas are now closed because of the wintry conditions, with around 6in of snow falling across northern areas.

The Met Office has issued severe weather warnings for heavy snow in Wales, north-west England, the Midlands, and eastern England.

Heathrow has been criticised for the length of time it took to clear tonnes of snow from runways and plane stands after a blizzard on Saturday dumped 5in (13cm) in one hour.

At a news conference on Tuesday, Prime Minister David Cameron said: “Even BAA’s harshest critics have conceded that given the amount of snow that has fallen, extensive disruption is understandable.

“But if it’s understandable that Heathrow had to close briefly, I’m frustrated on behalf of all those affected that it’s taking so long for the situation to improve.”

He added: “The people stuck here are having an incredibly difficult time, especially just a few days from Christmas, and everything must be done to either get them on holiday or get them home safely.”

Airport operator BAA said it would investigate how airports have coped with the snow once services were back to normal.

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