Travel bosses fail to avert winter chaos

 
Chill: A black cab in Maida Vale covered in snow
10 April 2012

Snow and ice caused serious travel disruption for commuters today despite transport chiefs claiming they were ready with a cold weather plan.

Tens of thousands of Tube passengers struggled to get to work after the Jubilee line was suspended from Stanmore to Waterloo because of a train stranded at Willesden by the icy conditions.

Many side streets were covered in ice. Mayor Boris Johnson said 500 tonnes of salt were spread overnight on main roads, but AA president Edmund King said not enough was done.

"There have been some criticisms that not enough roads have been gritted," he said. "Yet again there is disruption on public transport and the roads."

Heathrow, due for a hectic day with families flying out for half-term holidays, was said to be fully open after runways were cleared overnight. But with more bad weather forecast, passengers were warned to check with their airline before setting off, in case of cancellation. More than 900,000 people are set to travel with BA this week, peaking today with 95,000.

A broken-down train at West Ham caused the District line to be suspended between East Ham and Bromley-by-Bow, and the Hammersmith & City line was suspended between Liverpool Street and Barking.

The Bakerloo line saw severe delays after a signal failure at Queens Park, and Circle line services were delayed.

Howard Collins, LU's chief operating officer, said: "Throughout last night, Transport for London put its cold weather plans on the Tube, DLR, London Overground, buses and roads in place to ensure we keep London moving. The vast majority of services are running well this morning with traffic flowing well on main roads."

First Capital Connect and Southern main line rail services were delayed by failed track equipment at Mitcham. Great Anglia and Stansted Express services to and from Liverpool Street station were delayed by a broken-down train near Bethnal Green.

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