Eurotunnel, ferry and plane passengers hit with lengthy delays amid heat and thunderstorms

Eurotunnel, ferry and plane passengers hit with lengthy delays amid heat and thunderstorms
Chris Dyer 28 July 2018 • https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/07/28/eurotunnel-train-plane-passe...

Holidaymakers were left stranded or stuck in five hour-long queues as they tried to getaway for the summer holidays on Saturday as thunderstorms caused delays.

Families had to wait more than five hours at the Eurotunnel as the extreme weather conditions caused the service to run at half capacity.

Travellers at Stansted Airport were left sleeping on the floor after Ryanair cancelled 14 flights due to Friday night's thunderstorms, along with air traffic control staff shortages.

Birmingham, Manchester, Luton and Gatwick airports were also hit by delays and cancellations, with Heathrow suffering minor delays.

Tom Happold, director of digital content agency, Happen, was with his family at Stansted and ended up missing his flight due to the long queues. "I've missed my flight with my family. I've got two kids with me and my wife," he told Sky News. "It's complete chaos here. There's lots of arguments, babies crying, lots of pushing and shoving.

"There's a lack of staff both from the airport and the airlines. Nobody knows where they're going, where they're queuing, people are getting to the front of the queues and then finding the flight is shut, which is what happened to us.

"We got to the front of the queue and found out the travel company we are with hadn't been in touch with our airline, but we can't call them because they don't open until 9am."

Ferry port and Eurotunnel delays

Travellers heading to the Continent were left stuck in their cars as traffic came to a standstill on the M20 and A20 heading to Dover and Folkestone.

Eurotunnel warned of delays of about two-and-a-half hours for cars and five hours for lorries at its terminal near Folkestone, Kent, but some passengers complained of having to wait more than five hours. The cross-Channel operator cancelled thousands of tickets after the "extreme temperatures".

Delays were blamed on the air conditioning breaking down in the 30C heat, but many passengers said the faults were due to poor maintenance.

William Lawson wrote on Twitter: "Disgraceful lack of maintenance being blamed on unprecedented weather conditions. Waited 1.5 hours for the barriers to even get on site and now told to expect a 5 hour delay."