Hurricane Gonzalo: Heathrow cancels flights and rail commuters face severe delays

 
Heading to London: the tail end of Hurricane Gonzalo will hit on Tuesday
Matthew Beard|Josh Pettit21 October 2014

Thousands of air passengers suffered disruption today after 80 flights were cancelled at Heathrow as the tail-end of a hurricane battered Britain.

British Airways grounded 20 departures as a precaution with destinations in the UK and Europe affected.

A German pilots’ strike caused a further 30 cancellations, bring the total of flights grounded at Heathrow to 110.

With the Hurricane Gonzalo moving east by mid morning, air passengers departing the UK were warned they may be hit by delays later in the day from European mainland airports.

Every major London rail terminus reported severe delays due to “poor autumn conditions” of heavy rains and leaves on the line.

Many trains into London Liverpool Street ran an hour late, including trains to and from Stansted Airport.

Due to the high winds, the Thames cable car was halted and ferry services were disrupted.

The decision to cancel flights was taken last night between Heathrow and the airlines so passengers could be re-booked on later flights.

The worst-affected destinations were Barcelona, Belfast, Edinburgh, Geneva, Madrid, Manchester and Newcastle, while the only transatlantic cancellation was Air Canada’s departure to St John’s in Newfoundland.

Passengers flying to Frankfurt or Munich and onward aboard the German airline, Lufthansa, face further misery because of a pilots’s strike that disrupted 200,000 travellers yesterday.

Simone Gasser, 45, a hairdresser, flying to Frankfurt, said: “I’m selling my salon in Strasbourg and need to be there for the final bit, handing over the keys and that so this has really put me out. I am so angry. I only found out on the way to the airport when my boyfriend called to tell me - the airline should at least inform people.

“I have no idea what happens now but I might have to up to Stansted for a flight leaving this afternoon.”

Fernando Truaba, 67, a retired head teacher from Mexico City, flying to Frankfurt, said: “It was our connecting flight but we only found out when my son called from Cancun to tell me. Apparently the pilots don’t work in this weather.

“But I’m retired so I have time for anything. I’m just going to get some lunch and I’ve already got a direct flight to Mexico City later today, so not all bad.”

On the rails, Abellio Greater Anglia trains to and from London Liverpool Street experienced delays and cancellations due to the windy weather caused by Hurricane Gonzalo. Passengers were hit by delays on most services in the south east into London as the poor weather hit at rush hour.

Gusts of more than 55mph hit inland Britain, but were expected reach 60 or 70mph in coastal areas.

Northern Scotland was forecast to have the highest winds - up to 80mph on the coast.

Hurricane Gonzalo - which at its peak sustained winds of 110mph - caused severe damage and a power blackout when it hit Bermuda at the end of last week.

Royal Navy ship HMS Argyll, with a crew of 180, has arrived at the British territory to help with the relief effort if needed.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in