Storm Ciara’s travel disruption to continue for millions as working week begins

As the skies darkened over Bedfordshire, passengers on the late-running 2.47pm from Bedford to London St Pancras were told: “There is a trampoline caught in the overhead wires between Luton and London.

“We will be held here at Luton for the foreseeable future.”

Two miles away, thousands of airline passengers were wondering if they would be stranded at Luton airport for a similar period. Theirs were among the 1,000-plus flights cancelled on the worst day for weather disruption for many years.

As the working week begins, the travel chaos caused by Storm Ciara will persist – as railway staff clear lines of everything from trampolines to trees, and airlines struggle to get their planes, pilots and passengers where they need to be.

Travellers using Heathrow airport were worst affected on Sunday. Airlines had been told to trim their schedules, and had proactively cancelled around 200 flights.

But conditions on the day were so bad that almost 300 more flights were grounded – many at very late notice.

Some of the Heathrow cancellations were aircraft from abroad that diverted elsewhere. An inbound Latam Boeing 777 from Sao Paulo in Brazil made two attempts at landing before diverting to Barcelona.

Two Emirates A380 “superjumbo” planes from Dubai, bound for Gatwick and Manchester, diverted to Frankfurt and Zurich respectively.

Across the UK, more than 1,000 flights and many thousands of trains were cancelled.

Operations on Monday are far from normal.

British Airways has cancelled at least a dozen inbound overnight flights from destinations including BA 112 from New York, the record-breaking service that arrived on Sunday morning in under five hours.

BA passengers from Accra, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and Philadelphia have also seen their flights grounded.

More than 30 short-haul flights on British Airways have been cancelled on Monday to and from Heathrow, and a further eight serving Gatwick.

A spokesperson for BA said: “Following the disruption caused by Storm Ciara over the weekend, there will be a minor knock-on effect to Monday’s schedule.

“We’re getting in touch with those affected, and have brought in extra customer teams to help them with a range of options including a full refund or an alternative flight between now and Thursday.

“Any customer flying to or from Heathrow can also choose to make changes to their travel plans if they would prefer to fly another time.”

United Airlines has cancelled two Chicago flights and one from Houston, while American has grounded its inbound service from Phoenix. The corresponding outbound flights will not operate.

In total The Independent calculates that 75 flights to and from Heathrow have already been cancelled on Monday.

Surviving departures are likely to be extremely busy because up to 200,000 passengers were stranded on Sunday across the UK due to cancellations.

The UK rail network will be trying to get back to near-normal, but delays and cancellations are likely on many lines. 

The entire schedule of overnight trains between Scotland and London was cancelled on Sunday night, with passengers told: “Caledonian Sleeper will not be providing alternate transportation.”

LNER, which runs most services on the East Coast main line from Edinburgh, Newcastle and Yorkshire to London, will say only: “LNER are hoping to run as many services as possible with a few alterations.”

Hull Trains has cancelled a morning round-trip between London King’s Cross and Hull.

In Wales, trains on the Cambrian Coast line from Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth and Pwllheli will be replaced by buses, as will the Conwy Valley line – and services west of Swansea and West Wales “are likely to be disrupted tomorrow [Monday] due to high tides and continued strong winds overnight”.

Avanti West Coast hopes to run a normal service, and told passengers: “If you had a ticket for today [Sunday] that you haven’t used, you can travel at anytime tomorrow [Monday], but please avoid peak services as they will be extremely busy.”

Southeastern, serving Kent and East Sussex, is warning commuters: “Disruption is very likely on routes through Swanley and to/from London Victoria.”

Gatwick Express, Thameslink and Great Northern passengers have been told: “There’s still a risk that trains will be disrupted by the time that the normal public service begins on Monday morning, and if travelling early you should check for the latest updates.” Travellers are also warned of more high winds on Tuesday. “This is likely to have an impact on services and infrastructure across the network,” bosses said.

The port of Dover opened shortly after 8pm after being closed all day. The two ferry operators, P&O and DFDS, are running shuttle services with vehicles carried on the first available sailing to France.