SECOND day of Easter Holiday HELL: Huge queues at Manchester Airport, Heathrow already at ‘near capacity’ with early international passengers ‘sent to arrivals to wait’ and chaos at Dover with P&O Ferries suspended
- Check in queues reported at Manchester and Heathrow Airports this morning
- Staff shortages said to have contributed to delays with travellers sat on planes
- HGV drivers at Port of Dover have also faced long waits for two nights running
- Suspended P&O Ferry service and two DFDS ships also said to be out of action
Passenger journeys have been blighted this morning by huge queues at UK airports and ferry terminals, as the first weekend of April gets off to an awkward start.
Check-in queues of around three hours have been reported at Manchester Airport, with similar scenes at Heathrow.
Staff shortages are also said to have contributed to delays, with some travellers sat on planes for up to an hour waiting to take off.
On Twitter, Ali posted: ‘Manchester Airport not ideal as it’s so busy… well done as it’s organised and amazing staff, are smiling through abuse and announcing etc. Well done. Gutted about our fast track passes not being able to use them.’
Large queues were reported at Manchester Airport this morning as the first April weekend got off to an awkward start
Actress Amanda Abbington tweeted there was no one to process her baggage claim at Manchester Airport
Another passenger reported waits of over three hours at Manchester Airport yesterday
Terminal Two of Heathrow is said to ‘near capacity’ with passengers admitted just three hours before flight time.
There were long traffic jams around the Port of Dover for two nights running, with hundreds of lorry drivers stuck on the motorway near the port, the BBC reports.
Ferry services are said to be greatly reduced due to P&O suspending its services and two DFDS ferries out of action.
Measures to control the flow of HGVs in the area are also said to have caused long waiting times. Operation Brock allows lorries travelling towards Dover to use just one side of the M20, with all other traffic using a contraflow system on the other side.
The Department for Transport (Dft) said efforts were being made to minimise disruption.
‘We are aware of queues at Dover, and the Kent Resilience Forum and local partners are working to minimise any disruption by deploying temporary traffic management measures as standard,’ it said in a statement.
Terminal two of Heathrow was said to be at full capacity, with passenger unable to enter until three hours before their flight
Suspended P&O Ferry services are said to have contributed to long delays at the Port of Dover throughout the weekend, along with two DFDS ferries out of action
‘This has been caused by a number of factors, including severe weather in the Channel.’
Despite the overnight delays, waiting times from Dover to Calais are reported to be six hours – down from 14 hours yesterday.
An emergency air-and-sea rescue operation was underway in the English Channel last night after a plane with two people on board crashed after taking off in the UK.
The Piper PA-28 was in a group of aircraft which was heading to the northern France resort of Le Touquet on Saturday morning.
‘It crashed into British waters for an unknown reason,’ said a spokesman for the French emergency services.
‘British Coastguard launched an operation supported by French aircraft and boats including the Abeille-Languedoc (Languedoc Bee) tug, which has been chartered by the French Navy.’
Source: Read Full Article
