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22 December 2010
Last updated at 07:20 ET
Thousands of rail and air passengers stranded because of snow may finally be on the move as travel operators begin tackling lengthy backlogs.
Heathrow Airport plans to run two-thirds of flights, and Eurostar and the East Coast mainline from London to Scotland expect a near-normal service.
But several airports across the UK are still warning of disruption, including Edinburgh, East Midlands and Gatwick.
Warnings of heavy snow remain in place for the Midlands and eastern England.
Heathrow reopened its second runway on Tuesday evening, but warned travellers not to expect services to return to normal straight away.
Schools shut A BAA spokesman said "100% of the airport was available" but it was not running at full capacity just yet. Heathrow told passengers to travel to the airport only if their departure was confirmed.
In other developments:
He told BBC Breakfast: "Everybody thinks 'oh well they've got both runways open, things will improve'. I'm afraid the backlog today is only going to increase - by another 60,000 people."
Cross-Channel operator Eurostar said it was planning to run 43 out of 52 services from London St Pancras on Wednesday.
It advised passengers to turn up only if they have a valid ticket, and only an hour before they travel.
Some passengers have reported empty seats on Eurostar trains out of London, despite people being left on platforms.
The BBC's Lucy Wilkins, travelling to Paris for Christmas, said she managed to leave St Pancras on Wednesday morning with just a 20min delay.
But she said there were chaotic scenes and long queues, with some people waiting in line who had been due to travel two days ago.
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Helen Willetts assesses the chances of further snowfalls and freezing weather over Christmas
East Coast trains said journeys northwards from London King's Cross would take an extra 15 minutes after damage to overhead power lines near Huntingdon on Tuesday led it to suspend services between London and Peterborough.
Some trains between King's Cross and Leeds are cancelled.
East Coast chairwoman Elaine Holt said there were "a lot of lessons to be learned" from the past few days.
She told Breakfast: "Network Rail are going to look very closely at their infrastructure and what they can learn from this... what we could do better regarding customer information."
Rail watchdog Passenger Focus said the recent bout of cold weather should act as a wake-up call for the industry to provide better information.
Chief executive Anthony Smith told the BBC: "What we've seen recently is lots of cases where we've had websites saying different things, we've had phone lines saying different things and we've had staff saying different things as well.
"That confuses passengers and makes them feel that the system isn't looking after them."
The Met Office has issued severe weather warnings for the Midlands and eastern England, and forecasters say the cold weather is likely to continue in the coming days.
Earlier, heavy snow fell in parts of Wales with up to 10in (25cm) overnight on Anglesey.
Heathrow has been criticised for the length of time it took to clear tonnes of snow from runways and plane stands after a blizzard on Saturday dumped 5in in one hour.
The GMB union, which represents airport workers, said BAA chief executive Colin Matthews should have his 2010 bonus axed as a result.
National officer Mick Rix said: "Paying him a huge bonus would be an absolute slap in the face to the thousands of people who have been stranded at Heathrow for the past three days."
Last year Mr Matthews received £994,000 in pay and bonuses, excluding shares.
At a news conference on Tuesday, Prime Minister David Cameron said: "Even BAA's harshest critics have conceded that given the amount of snow that has fallen, extensive disruption is understandable.
"But if it's understandable that Heathrow had to close briefly, I'm frustrated on behalf of all those affected that it's taking so long for the situation to improve."
Airport operator BAA said it would investigate how airports have coped with the snow once services were back to normal.
Have your travel plans been disrupted? Have you had to cancel a holiday? Are you planning to contact your insurance company? You can send us your experiences using the form below:
Send your pictures and videos to yourpics@bbc.co.uk or text them to 61124 (UK) or +44 7725 100 100 (International). If you have a large file you can upload here.
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Heathrow Airport plans to run two-thirds of flights, and Eurostar and the East Coast mainline from London to Scotland expect a near-normal service.
But several airports across the UK are still warning of disruption, including Edinburgh, East Midlands and Gatwick.
Warnings of heavy snow remain in place for the Midlands and eastern England.
Heathrow reopened its second runway on Tuesday evening, but warned travellers not to expect services to return to normal straight away.
Schools shut A BAA spokesman said "100% of the airport was available" but it was not running at full capacity just yet. Heathrow told passengers to travel to the airport only if their departure was confirmed.
In other developments:
- Delays and cancellations are reported on train services run by Northern Rail, First Great Western, First Capital Connect, National Express East Anglia, The Docklands Light Railway and Virgin Trains on the West Coast main line, and Arriva Trains Wales. National Rail Enquiries has more information
- In Wales, 102 schools yet to break up for Christmas closed
- Yorkshire Water has taken almost 7,000 calls from people reporting frozen pipes - nearly double the normal level
- Temperatures plummeted to -20.1C in parts of northern Scotland overnight
He told BBC Breakfast: "Everybody thinks 'oh well they've got both runways open, things will improve'. I'm afraid the backlog today is only going to increase - by another 60,000 people."
Cross-Channel operator Eurostar said it was planning to run 43 out of 52 services from London St Pancras on Wednesday.
It advised passengers to turn up only if they have a valid ticket, and only an hour before they travel.
Some passengers have reported empty seats on Eurostar trains out of London, despite people being left on platforms.
The BBC's Lucy Wilkins, travelling to Paris for Christmas, said she managed to leave St Pancras on Wednesday morning with just a 20min delay.
But she said there were chaotic scenes and long queues, with some people waiting in line who had been due to travel two days ago.
Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.Helen Willetts assesses the chances of further snowfalls and freezing weather over Christmas
East Coast trains said journeys northwards from London King's Cross would take an extra 15 minutes after damage to overhead power lines near Huntingdon on Tuesday led it to suspend services between London and Peterborough.
Some trains between King's Cross and Leeds are cancelled.
East Coast chairwoman Elaine Holt said there were "a lot of lessons to be learned" from the past few days.
She told Breakfast: "Network Rail are going to look very closely at their infrastructure and what they can learn from this... what we could do better regarding customer information."
Rail watchdog Passenger Focus said the recent bout of cold weather should act as a wake-up call for the industry to provide better information.
Chief executive Anthony Smith told the BBC: "What we've seen recently is lots of cases where we've had websites saying different things, we've had phone lines saying different things and we've had staff saying different things as well.
"That confuses passengers and makes them feel that the system isn't looking after them."
The Met Office has issued severe weather warnings for the Midlands and eastern England, and forecasters say the cold weather is likely to continue in the coming days.
Earlier, heavy snow fell in parts of Wales with up to 10in (25cm) overnight on Anglesey.
Heathrow has been criticised for the length of time it took to clear tonnes of snow from runways and plane stands after a blizzard on Saturday dumped 5in in one hour.
The GMB union, which represents airport workers, said BAA chief executive Colin Matthews should have his 2010 bonus axed as a result.
National officer Mick Rix said: "Paying him a huge bonus would be an absolute slap in the face to the thousands of people who have been stranded at Heathrow for the past three days."
Last year Mr Matthews received £994,000 in pay and bonuses, excluding shares.
At a news conference on Tuesday, Prime Minister David Cameron said: "Even BAA's harshest critics have conceded that given the amount of snow that has fallen, extensive disruption is understandable.
"But if it's understandable that Heathrow had to close briefly, I'm frustrated on behalf of all those affected that it's taking so long for the situation to improve."
Airport operator BAA said it would investigate how airports have coped with the snow once services were back to normal.
Have your travel plans been disrupted? Have you had to cancel a holiday? Are you planning to contact your insurance company? You can send us your experiences using the form below:
Send your pictures and videos to yourpics@bbc.co.uk or text them to 61124 (UK) or +44 7725 100 100 (International). If you have a large file you can upload here.
Read the terms and conditions
Powered by WizardRSS | Work At Home Jobs