Christmas Travel LIVE: Traffic chaos on motorways while getaways hit by cancelled flights

Conditions are expected to improve this week after bad weather caused disruption during the Christmas getaway period.

The Met Office has forecast a “grey Christmas” with some sunny spells and “extremely mild” temperatures.

It comes after a “perfect storm” of adverse weather conditions and road congestion led to widespread disruption during the Christmas getaway.

George Best Belfast City airport has reopened after the runway was blocked by a stricken plane – but widespread disruption continues through Monday morning.

The drama began shortly after 4pm on Sunday afternoon when an Aer Lingus Regional ATR72 aircraft flew in from Edinburgh on a “positioning” flight to Belfast City. Four crew but no passengers were on board.

After a 40-minute flight the propellor plane made what the airline called a “hard landing” because of bad weather. The nose wheel collapsed, leaving the aircraft resting on its nose. No one was hurt, but the runway was blocked. Four incoming flights were diverted to Belfast International and two to Dublin, and dozens were cancelled.

The airport says: “Following an incident on 22 December, the runway at Belfast City Airport has reopened and is operating as normal.”

The runway is certainly open, with the first passenger flight from Manchester touching down at 7.15am, but operations are far from normal.

A British Airways flight that was due out at 5.25pm on Sunday but which was diverted to Dublin is now expected to leave at 9am.

The early departure on KLM to Amsterdam is cancelled because the aircraft could not reach Belfast City.

Many flights are delayed by several hours. The Emerald Airlines fleet of 10 aircraft has been reduced by one, while the aircraft is assessed and repaired, which will cause more cancellations.

Drivers have been warned which major routes to avoid this Christmas season as experts predict a record number of festive trips will be made.

Around 29.3 million Christmas journeys will take place between Wednesday and 24 December, the RAC has estimated, with nearly half taking place on the pre-Christmas weekend alone.

Surveying over 2,000 drivers, the motoring group has urged festive commuters when to avoid major routes over the coming days. On Friday, it’s best to stay off the roads for the five hours between 2pm and 7pm on Friday 20 December, with nearly three million trips planned across the day.

This jumps to a massive 3.72 million on Saturday, when drivers are urged to avoid the five hours between 1pm and 6pm and set off well before this “gridlock” period if they can.

People joining the Christmas getaway this weekend are being warned of heavy rain and winds of up to 80mph that are likely to cause travel disruption.

Millions of journeys are expected to be made across the country by car, in what the RAC breakdown service said could be a “pretty exhausting experience” for travellers due to the “wet and windy” conditions.

And it did not start well for many on Friday with hold-ups on many of the country’s main routes. They included motorists on the M5 who were stuck in 90-minute queues after hay bales on the back of a lorry caught fire near Exeter.

The incident closed two of four southbound lanes between J30 for Exeter and J31 for Shillingford Abbot and came at the same time there were queues caused by a crash on the M4 near Bristol and congestion around Dartford Bridge on the M25.

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Britons hoping for a white Christmas are set to be sorely disappointed with a mild and grey 25 December, forecasters have predicted.

For the Met Office to declare a white Christmas, a single snowflake has to be observed falling in the 24 hours of Christmas Day anywhere in the UK.

However, the day is likely to be settled, cloudy and dry with light winds for most of the UK, according to the forecaster.

There is a small chance of rain across north-west Scotland, though temperatures are expected to be widely mild, dashing any hopes of snow.

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A plane crash-landed in high winds at a Belfast airport as poor weather disrupted travel across the UK in the run-up to Christmas.

Belfast City Airport was forced to enact emergency procedures on Sunday after a plane’s nose wheel collapsed upon landing in adverse weather conditions. There were no reported injuries.

There were four crew and no passengers on board the Emerald Airlines flight when the hard landing occurred at around 4pm on Sunday afternoon, as winds of up to 82mph battered parts of the UK.

The incident caused the runway to be closed for the rest of the day, after what the airport said had been the busiest day of the year so far on Friday, and several flights were diverted to Belfast International Airport on Sunday evening.

It came as weather warnings were in force across the UK, save for eastern parts of England, causing ferries, trains and flights to be cancelled in a blow to passengers travelling to spend Christmas with their loved ones.

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Travel chaos is expected across the UK as the Christmas getaway gets underway.

It comes as weather warnings kick in for parts of the UK, roads and public transport could be disrupted by strong winds as the Met Office forecast a wet and windy weekend for many.

But one predictable issue that always arises during the festive season, is train delays, changes and a full shut down of the entire rail network on Christmas day.

This is because it is the one day of the year that engineering works take place, giving Network Rail and train companies an opportunity to carry out the largest heavy duty jobs when many across the UK are spending the day with loved ones.

Simon Calder explains:

Conditions are expected to improve this week after bad weather caused disruption during the Christmas getaway period.

The Met Office has forecast a “grey Christmas” with some sunny spells and “extremely mild” temperatures.

It comes after a “perfect storm” of adverse weather conditions and road congestion led to widespread disruption during the Christmas getaway.

The Met Office issued yellow warnings for wind which remained in place until 9pm on Sunday.

The warnings were in place in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and in England the warnings covered the North East, North West, South West and West Midlands as well as Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Hampshire.

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People have been ferried to Ireland on alternative routes after the temporary closure of Holyhead port in an effort to get people home for Christmas, a Welsh Cabinet Secretary has said.

The busy ferry port in Anglesey, North Wales, was forced to close following damage during Storm Darragh and is not set to reopen until January 15 at the earliest.

All ferry services between Dublin and Holyhead are currently cancelled, upending travel plans for thousands in the festive season.

But alternative sailings to Ireland have been taking place this weekend amid high winds and challenging conditions.

Gusts of up to 75mph were forecast for parts of the UK on Sunday, with wind warnings in force across Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and large swathes of England.

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