As millions of people head home for Christmas, Storm Pia is expected to cause more disruptions to roads and public transportation today. Yesterday, the storm brought strong winds and travel chaos to the UK. A weather warning for snow and ice for parts of Scotland is in place until tomorrow.
The M56 motorway in Cheshire was closed in both directions after a horsebox overturned between junctions 8 and 9.
A replacement horsebox was en route to transfer the animal, according to National Highways, which stated that its offers were acknowledged.
There were no reports of any injury to the horse or the driver.
There were established diversion routes. The eastbound carriageway has since reopened, with the westbound carriageway reopening shortly.
“The price hike is obviously coming at the worst possible time,” said one traveller.
“This whole year has been a bit of a mess. It’s just the icing on the cake.”
He continued, “Hopefully, we make it back in time.” He was talking about his intention to spend Christmas at his Southampton home.
“It will be a challenge to make us understand why [rail fares are rising],” another lady tells me.
“It’s already expensive, it will be much more expensive now.”
The government says it needs to adapt to changing rail habits after many people decided to work from home after the pandemic.
“That pandemic was a long time ago. “That is the excuse they keep using,” she remarked.
“They’ll have some explaining to do as to what the reason is.”
P&O Ferries has apologised as passengers continue to face long waits at the Port of Dover.
The port said there were 90-minute waits ahead of French border controls as it worked to clear disruption caused by a surprise strike action at the Eurotunnel yesterday.
P&O has offered its “sincere apologies” for the lengthy waiting times and said it is “working hard with the authorities to improve the situation”.
These are a few of the most recent images taken on “Frantic Friday,” which was observed at London’s St Pancras station.
Though the scenes are less chaotic than yesterday when there was huge disruption due to cancelled Eurostar trains, services are still playing catch-up today.
