Weather bomb causes UK travel disruption
Ferry and rail services have been cancelled as parts of the UK prepare for a ‘weather bomb’ due to hit today.
The Met Office has warned that severe gales and exceptionally high waves will hit coastal areas in the north west of the UK later.
It says western and northern Scotland and the far north of Northern Ireland should be prepared for ‘dangerous conditions’.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency has put more than 25 flood warnings and alerts in place, mainly in coastal areas.
Network Rail and ScotRail have cancelled some trains as a safety precaution and Irish Ferries has cancelled services between Holyhead and Dublin.
Clyde and Hebridean ferries operator Caledonian MacBrayne has cancelled several services and warns that others are liable to be disrupted.
"The diverse nature of our routes and the land/ seascape in which we operate means that weather conditions can be very localised so even when bad weather is widespread, there may routes which are unaffected and customers prefer us to hold off making a decision on whether to sail or not as long as possible just in case a weather window appears," said a spokesman.
He urged travellers to check the website www.calmac.co.uk for the latest information.
There have also been disruptions to Argyll Ferries’ services between Gourock and Dunoon, NorthLink Ferries’ services between Orkney, Shetland and the mainland, and P&O’s Larne and Cairnryan sailings.
The Met Office says a second storm front is expected to track across the UK overnight on Thursday, while gales and heavy rain will continue into Friday morning across much of England and Wales.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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