Britain paralysed by the Big Freeze

BRITAIN’s travel network has been paralysed by the latest instalment of the big freeze, leaving many cars stuck in mammoth traffic jams; sporting fixtures cancelled and frustrated passengers trapped in airport terminals.

CHAOS: Frustrated passengers vent their anger at Heathrow

Only a handful of flights have left the busiest European airport all weekend, as Heathrow was hit significantly by the snow.  However, they have been severely criticised by its lack of snow strategy and lack of communication.  For the third consecutive day, the reputation of Heathrow airport has been buried in the tons of snow and ice.  It is a national embarrassment and the transport secretary Phillip Hammond is taking a lot of stick to explain Heathrow’s halts.

With hotels fully booked up, thousands of passengers have slept on the floors of airport terminals for the weekend, with some operators like Thomson being heavily criticised by disgruntled customers for not giving their passengers blankets and pillows.  Other airport operators such as British Airways and Monarch have also been taking stick of a lack of simple supplies to stranded passengers.  Today, BAA has said that travellers should not head for Heathrow unless their flight is definitely confirmed. 

LACK: Planes are not leaving Heathrow, almost grounded

There may be a mammoth task to clear the sheet rinks of ice across the runways, but at Gatwick, they have dealt far better.  Under new owners, it puts far more scrutiny on BAA and Heathrow for being inadequately prepared.  Getting into the UK also seem to be as much of a problem as getting out, with heavy backlogs on Saturday at Birmingham airport after the luggage conveyor belts broke down.  The backlog across the country has also led to heavy disruption at Luton, Belfast, Exeter and Aberdeen airports amongst others.  Further delays and cancellations in the coming days are expected. 

It isn’t just the aviation industry that has suffered, as the trains have also been badly hit.  Today, queues of upto five hours built up outside Eurostar’s St. Pancreas station in London.  It is running a limited service, and has already said that no more tickets will be sold before Christmas Eve at the earliest.  Some London Underground tube services have been affected, but they were mainly back to normal today.  London Midland, Virgin Trains and other railways across East Anglia have also been slated for inadequate information.  Like the planes, it is advisable to check with National Rail before travelling.

The roads have also suffered a catalogue of problems, thanks to crashes, stranded cars and jack-knifed Lorries.  The M4 and M25 have been often left at a standstill and it took four hours for me to be navigated home from the University of Northampton on Saturday night.  This is a journey through the M1 to Milton Keynes that traditionally takes no more than 40 minutes.  The gritters are working around the clock, but some councils are already warning that they are running out of supplies. 

FROZEN: Heavy snow at the Emirates postponed Arsenal's game

Sporting fixtures have been practically wiped out for safety reasons.  The Premiership top of the table clash at Stamford Bridge between Chelsea and Manchester United was postponed yesterday, with games at West Brom, Blackpool, Wigan Athletic, Liverpool, Arsenal and Birmingham City all falling foul to the weather.  Tonight’s Premiership match at Eastlands goes ahead, as Manchester City aim to go top by beating Everton.  Rugby fixtures and horse racing meetings have also been severely hit, with doubts over the King George VI beating the weather at Kempton on Boxing Day. 

ALONE: A cyclist braves the bitter weather in Brighton

The amount of snow on Saturday was the heaviest that the country has seen for any December since 1990.  If the trend continues, we are set for the coldest December since 1910, when records began.  Temperatures have plummeted as low as -20 degrees in some areas of the Midlands and there are still severe weather warnings in place for Yorkshire, the North East of England and Scotland.  The shadow Home Secretary Allan Johnston thinks that Hammond should resign.  He told Sky; “On this area, don’t forget, Scotland’s transport secretary resigned.  It is a big issue when people believe the government has left them to it: ‘Get a shovel or stay at home.”  “Governing is about more than that when you hit a crisis.” 

Hammond has though been defended by the Foreign Secretary William Hague, who admitted that; “We might have to look at this again if these things are to occur frequently.”

Whatever the outcome and whoever is to blame, it seems like many families Christmas plans have been well and truly ruined.

Kiss Flights Demise Add To The Growing Travel Pain

Last week saw more misery for those passengers who wanted to get away before autumn sets in.  Kiss Flights became the third travel operator to go bust, following the after effects of the recession and the eruption of the Icelandic volcano back in April.

More than 70,000 people have been affected by the collapse of the travel operator last Tuesday, which specialised in sending travellers off to the Canary Islands, Egypt, Greece and Turkey.  Around 13,000 customers are abroad with the company, although all are set to return home under the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority).  However, delays maybe expected.  Refunds will be accepted for those who had booked flights with the doomed operator, though not for accommodation. 

The chief executive of Flight Options, the owner of Kiss Flights is devastated by the collapse, blaming the demise on late bookings, as well as the fallout from the volcanic ash disruption.  Kiss Flights catered for many of the same routes as the recently collapsed Goldtrail Holidays.  This means that some holidaymakers may be affected for a second time this summer.  Last Friday, Sun4u also collapsed, leaving 16,000 customers stuck abroad.  With these latest demises, I would expect more independent companies to go bust in the near future.

Although the Unite Union and BAA recently agreed a deal, preventing a potentially horrendous Bank Holiday strike which would have seen the shutdown of six British airports, including Stanstead and Heathrow, the aviation industry has taken a significant battering in 2010.  The effects from the Icelandic volcano are hitting hard and the fallout may only just be beginning for many in insecure jobs, and many more thousands of holidaymakers who must be feeling the pain.  

British Success At The Euros

So, England has had a miserable sporting summer so far, but recently, our athletes managed to lift the doom and gloom with their outstanding performance at the European Athletics Championships in Barcelona. 

Team GB arrived back at Heathrow airport on Monday 2^nd August with their best ever haul of medals at the Euros, 6 gold’s, 7 silver and 6 bronze.  That is seven more than the previous overall best, set in Munich in 2002.  With this success, hope will undoubtedly rise for the Olympics in London, now just two short years away. 

The heroes of the championships from a British perspective with Mo Farah, who after years of suffering, clinched a spectacular double gold in the long-distance events (5,000m and 10,000m).  The Kenyans may not be too frightened by Farah, but at least we now have someone who can compete against them at the highest level.  Another success story was that of team captain and Sheffield’s golden girl, Jessica Ennis.  Ennis, who cruised to World Championship glory in Berlin last summer, beat the Olympic champion on her way to another record-breaking gold in the woman’s heptathlon.  There was also a very surprising gold for Andy Turner in the men’s 110m hurdles and a Welsh 1-2 in the men 400m hurdles, Di Greene leading home Rhys Williams.

As ever, there was the odd failure that letdown the team’s overall performance.  4^th in Berlin in 2009, William Sharman was amongst the favourites to win the men’s 110m hurdles, but whilst Turner clattered his way to the gold, a false start in the semi-finals put paid to Sharman’s dreams.  Diabolical and unacceptable changeovers saw both 4x100m relay teams miss out on final berths.  Although the men have a history of dropping the baton (Sydney 2000, Edmonton 2001, Gothenburg 2006), the women’s failure was something of a surprise.  The main international star was France’s Christophe Lematre, who charged to three gold medals, in the men’s 100m, 200m and part of the French squad triumph in the 4x100m relay. 

The likes of America, Jamaica and Kenya may have been missing, but Team GB rose to the fore, and alongside Russia, has proved to be the best that Europe has to offer.  With the Commonwealth Games in India likely to be decimated by withdrawals due to security threats, athletics attention will now turn to the 2011 World Championships in Seoul, Korea.

London 2012 is getting ever closer and our athletes have shown what they can do, and made us all proud to be British. 

More BA Strikes - When Will The Dispute End?

The bitter dispute between the Unite Union and British Airways has rumbled on even further, as BA cabin crew are about to start the second day of a five-day strike.  The staff walked out at midnight last night, after constant negotiations between the two parties failed to reach any kind of settlement. 

With more strikes on the way next week, travel plans for hundreds of thousands of passengers are set to be ruined again, with the half-term school holidays on the way, students breaking up for University hoping for a cheap break, and passionate England fans, hoping to get to South Africa in time for the World Cup finals.  With England’s first match against the USA on 12^th June, many fans face heartbreak of being stuck inside a stuffy airport terminal, rather than rooting on their heroes in Rustenberg.

On Monday, BA said it was operating 60% of its long-haul flights out of Heathrow and 50% of short-haul.  They also claimed that Gatwick airport was unaffected by the strikes, and many cabin crew were not supporting the strike and still working, as some need the income to keep family/independent support going.  The latest dispute is over pay demands and terms & conditions within of the agreement.  British Airways has also accused Unite of failing to take up offers of further late-night negotiations and it was disappointed that the union had restored to “negotiation through the media.” 

The boss of BA, Willie Walsh is coming under intense pressure to relinquish his role as head of the company.  It seems that Unite are firmly putting the blame firmly on his doors, rather than on British Airways the company.  Despite recording record losses last Friday, Walsh told ITN that he was determined to fight on and not give in to Unite’s latest demands, as well as putting pressure on the government to give out compensation for last month’s chaotic airline disruption, due to the volcanic ash in Iceland. 

The last stoppages, which took place just on the dawn of the Easter holidays and cabin crew who went on strike back then were not paid.  Unite’s problem is not with this formality, but with the travel concessions towards staff who took part.  They are demanding for these concessions to be restored, otherwise all of the latest strikes will take place.  Latest talks were brought to a standstill on Saturday evening, when union protestors stormed into the venue where negotiations were being held.  Allegedly, they were given the venue’s description by a Union leader via his updates on the social networking site, Twitter. 

Last week, British Airways was granted an injunction to prevent the strikes in the High Court, as they ruled that the Unite union had not reported the results of its strike ballot correctly to its members.  Three days later, an appeal by the union overturned the decision.  Along with this strike, two further five-day walkouts are scheduled to begin on May 30^th and June 5^th.

The dispute, which has dragged on for months between BA and Unite has involved clashes on significant job cuts, working conditions and pay decreases.  Tony Woodley and Willie Walsh are both as bad as one another and one wonders to think when this dispute will actually come to an end.  To be honest, it has brought British Airways reputation to its knees and if someone doesn’t give in and budge soon, it won’t be long before ‘The World’s Favourite Airline,’ may end up facing total extinction.  

BA Strike - Two Tribes At War Means Misery For Millions

At midnight last night, cabin crew staff from the ‘world’s favourite airline,’ walked out to start a three-day strike that will have severe ramifications for many’s travel plans this weekend.  British Airways is at the moment in a real mess, it doesn’t really matter who is to blame as the outcome is the same.  Millions will be made miserable and frustrated by the current and upcoming planned strikes. 

Ongoing talks between the airline and the Unite Union collapsed yesterday afternoon, after 48 hours of fruitless negotiation.  The blame game has already begun, following the failure to agree, and both parties are blaming the others for the failure in negotiations.  Prime Minister Gordon Brown has demanded the failure of talks as ‘unacceptable’ and has called for the strike to be called off immediately.  He is unlikely to get his wish though, it is quite possibly the worst nightmare he faces, especially with a General Election d-day looming ever closer.

The three-day strike this weekend is set to be followed by another four-day walkout from the 27^th March.  British Airways claim that 65% of passengers will still reach their destinations this weekend, but I think that is more of a hopeful, rather than a positive statement.  A total of 1,100 BA flights are expected to be cancelled during these strikes, with Heathrow and Gatwick airports obviously being the most affected airports.

The strikes are over the wages that cabin crew staff earn when employed by BA.  With the economic downturn still having its effects, British Airways had planned to cut their budget by 62.5million, which included reduction in their staffing wages.  Obviously, cabin crew have a right to feel annoyed, but I think they are forgetting the job they are doing, and though raising the issue or thinking of a more conventional plan with the management would have been a decent solution, striking was certainly the wrong answer.

Also, with news coming through last night that the railways possibly going on strike on a national basis, for the first time in 16 years over the Easter weekend after signal workers voted in favour of industrial action, also following employment issues, this time with cuts, the torment for people wanting to getaway could be able to get doubly worse. 

It looks like it could well be a miserable Easter for travellers, unless solutions in crisis meetings are found immediately, my advice would be to stay at home and avoid the chaos.