Travel across the UK was disrupted on Monday after a heavy storm swept across the south of the country, according to news reports.
All major airports reported delays and cancellations, while train services were cancelled and ferry services affected.
Heathrow cancelled one fifth of its flights as winds of up to 90 miles per hour were recorded, and several more departures were cancelled at Gatwick Airport.
EasyJet had warned passengers that there could be disruption to flights on Monday and that no trains would run to Gatwick, Southend, Stansted or Luton airports before 09:00 GMT. Eurostar said it would not be running trains on Monday until 07:00 GMT, with early services from London and Brussels subject to delays.
Network Rail justified its decision to shut down several services across southern England ahead of the hurricane. ‘There is no way we can run trains in hurricane force winds, to do so would put lives at risk,’ a Network Rail spokesman said.
‘There is no way you can safely run a train if there is a likelihood of a tree falling in its path at any time,’ he added. By 7am Network Rail had already cleared 50 trees from the track, mainly in the Wessex area, it said.
South West Trains and Virgin West Coast advised people not to travel on Monday, particularly on services on the southern end of the West Coast Main Line. Most services were not running until at least 11:00 in order to allow Network Rail to check lines.
Several ferry companies also cancelled services, including some English Channel and Irish Sea crossings.
The Environment Agency has issued 12 flood warnings – in southwest and southeast England, there are also 131 flood alerts across England and Wales, The Telegraph noted.
