Weather hampers festive travellers

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A Christmas cocktail of cold, fog, ice and snow has cast a pall of gloom over travellers trying to get home for the festive season.

With flight and train cancellations and delays, closed roads and numerous accidents, many people will be turning to their car and travel insurance providers to salvage what they can from disrupted travel plans.

Those hoping to spend Christmas in sunnier climes found themselves grounded by the British weather as air traffic control company Nats restricting aircraft movements at Heathrow due to early-morning fog.

Minor roads were hit with fog and black ice, with drivers in Kent, Hampshire and Sussex facing the worst conditions. Meanwhile, South West Trains cancelled several services running through Hampshire.

The AA reported about 3,000 breakdowns between midnight and 9am on Wednesday morning, including 50 cars stuck in heavy snow in Scotland.

The motoring organisation advised travellers to delay their departure until roads improved, but said Wednesday was expected to be the busiest day for the Christmas getaway, with an estimated 12 million drivers taking to the roads between then and Christmas Eve.

About three million people planned to go overseas between December 17 and January 3, according to travel organisation Abta.

Copyright © Press Association 2009

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