Motorway blocked by car fire and oil leak with long delays near Stansted Airport

The Operation Brock contraflow system will be deployed once again to try and manage traffic heading to the Port of Dover this Christmas.

It will be put in place between junctions 8 and 9 of the M20 from December 15-22, to allow lorries to queue on the coastbound carriageway if queueing on the A20 outside Dover fills up.

The Kent and Medway Resilience Forum say: ‘The Port of Dover and Eurotunnel are forecasting their peak tourist traveller numbers on December 19-21 as the majority of the schools break up for the holiday together with hauliers heading back to the continent in time for the festive break.

‘The prospect of bad weather could also cause delays.

‘Traffic levels will be monitored 24-hours a day during the Christmas getaway period by a team made up of KMRF partners, including Kent County Council and the emergency services, with traffic officers at points through Dover town.’

They added that Brock will be implemented ‘as a precaution’ to cover the peak period for cross-Channel traffic, and if all goes well it will be removed again before Christmas.

Passengers are facing 50-minute delays and train cancellations after an emergency incident between Bristol Temple Meads and Taunton.

All lines have reopened after the incident earlier this morning, but while service recovers disruption is expected to last until about 2.30pm.

It’s impacting the following services:

• CrossCountry between Aberdeen / Edinburgh / Newcastle / York / Leeds and Plymouth
• CrossCountry between Edinburgh and Penzance
• CrossCountry between Manchester Piccadilly and Paignton
• Great Western Railway between Cardiff Central and Taunton / Plymouth / Penzance

The London Underground and Overground are running pretty well at the moment, with all but one line running a good service.

The only sticking point is the Piccadilly line:

• No service between Rayners Lane and Uxbridge due to difficult track conditions caused by significant leaf fall. Minor delays on the rest of the line due to shortage of trains

Lanes two and three of the M11 southbound between junction 7a for Harlow and 7 for Chelmsford will remain closed for the rest of the day and overnight.

This is for emergency resurfacing work to take place after a fuel spill and vehicle fire damaged the road.

One lane has reopened to allow traffic to pass the scene, however drivers are currently facing hour-long queues on top of normal journey times.

There are two miles of queueing traffic on the approach.

Tree surgeons have finished work to remove an overhanging tree on the line between Oxted and Hurst Green which has been blocking the railway all morning.

Lines have now reopened, but there are still residual half-hour delays and the possibility of cancellations.

In particular, Uckfield trains are still cancelled until at least midday due to stock and crew displacement.

Passengers were warned to expect cancellations and delays to train services on the West Coast Main Line between London Euston and Scotland early on Monday.

Great Western Railway said passengers should ‘not attempt to travel’ between Swansea and Carmarthen until at least noon, or on the Looe, St Ives and Gunnislake branch lines in Cornwall until at least 11am.

Transport for Wales said all railway lines were blocked on 11 routes, such as between Swansea and Milford Haven, between Swansea and Shrewsbury, between Birmingham International and Shrewsbury, and between Chester and Holyhead.

Chris Baughan, Network Rail’s West Coast South route operations manager, said: ‘Storm Darragh has wreaked havoc on the railway this weekend and we are very sorry to passengers for the disruption to train services this morning on the West Coast Main Line as frontline teams continue with emergency repairs and the clean-up.’

For a full list of impacted rail lines, scroll down or click on the ‘Full list of train disruption caused by Storm Darragh’ bullet point above.

A spokesperson for Ryanair has confirmed to Metro that its app and website are back online.

There were significant reports of people being unable to check in early for their flights because the app and website were both down.

A short statement said: ‘Our website/app were temporarily unavailable for a brief time in the early hours of this morning (December 9), and are back online since early this morning.’

A spokesperson for TfL told Metro: ‘We apologise to customers affected by the temporary suspension of the Piccadilly line between Rayners and Uxbridge due to significant leaf fall. 

‘We employ a robust action plan every year to minimise the impact of leaf fall on our network which includes intensive trackside vegetation clearance and running specialist engineering trains along affected sections.

‘However, high volumes of leaves can make the track slippery and increase the risk of damage to train wheels, which is why we sometimes must introduce part-suspensions at this time of year, depending on weather conditions.

‘Trains continue to run from Rayners Lane along the rest of the Piccadilly line and the Metropolitan line is running as normal.’

There’s a problem under investigation between Blackfriars and St Pancras International, which is disrupting all lines.

Trains could be cancelled or delayed by up to 45 minutes.

National Rail says: ‘We’ve recently been told about this incident disrupting Thameslink services, and we’re working to get more information for you.

‘Your journey is likely to be disrupted, but we don’t have an exact estimate for any delays at the moment.

‘It’s likely that you may need to use another route, and we’ll let you know more details shortly.’

It’s impacting the following Thameslink services:

• Between Bedford and Three Bridges / Brighton
• Between Cambridge and Brighton
• Between Peterborough and Horsham
• Between Luton and Rainham
• Between St Albans City and Sutton

The M11 is still blocked southbound between junction 7a for Harlow and 7 for Chelmsford.

The long tailbacks are having an impact on junction 8 for Stansted Airport, and drivers are facing 90-minute delays.

National Highways traffic officers are now starting to run trapped traffic past the scene in lane one.

Scroll down for the official diversion route.

If your train journey is delayed or cancelled you may be entitled to a full refund from the retailer of your ticket, or compensation from the train company that caused the delay. 

If your train is delayed or cancelled and you choose not to travel, your unused ticket can be refunded without any fees by the original retailer.

If you are travelling and arrive late at your destination due to a cancelled or delayed service, you may be able to claim compensation.

Compensation will depend on:

• Which train company you travelled with
• The type of ticket you have – for example, compensation for a single Day ticket is calculated differently than that for a 7-Day Season ticket
• The length of the delay in arriving at your destination – each train company has its own compensation threshold, which will be detailed in their Passenger’s Charter on their website

Claims can be made online, or by post using a form that you can download from a train company website or get from a staffed station.

Drivers are facing hour-long delays after a two-vehicle crash on the M11 in Essex.

The southbound carriageway is blocked between junction 8 for Stansted Airport and 7a for Harlow.

The fuel tanks of one of the vehicles involved in the collision was ruptured. Fuel leaked onto the road and then caught fire.

The fire service and ambulance service are both at the scene. The fire has since been extinguished but now the road needs to be cleaned up.

This could impact drivers on their way to catch a flight at Stansted this morning – queues are tailing back for about three miles on the approach.

Here’s the official diversion route following the hollow square symbols:

• Ext the M11 southbound at J7A and take the second exit onto the A1025.
• Remain on the A1025 for approximately 2 miles to the “Mark Hall Roundabout” with the A414.
• At the Mark Hall Roundabout take the 1st exit onto the A414 southbound.
• Continue for approximately 2 miles to re-join the M11 southbound at J7.

Szymon is one passenger unable to check in to his flight early as the Ryanair website is ‘undergoing essential maintenance’.

Earlier delays on the Northern line have now cleared up, but there are still issues on the Piccadilly line and new delays on the Jubilee line:

• Piccadilly line: No service between Rayners Lane and Uxbridge due to difficult track conditions caused by significant leaf fall. Minor delays on the rest of the line due to shortage of trains
• Jubilee line: Minor delays due to a shortage of trains

Embankment damage found during an overnight inspection between Polesworth and Atherstone last Tuesday (December 3) is still having an impact on the line between Tamworth and Nuneaton.

All lines are still blocked and passengers can expect cancellations or hour-long delays.

National Rail says: ‘Network Rail engineers are on site and working hard to assess the scale of the damage, monitor the situation and carry out the necessary repairs.’

The disruption caused by this is expected to last until at least the end of the day.

It’s impacting the following services:

• Avanti West Coast between Edinburgh / Glasgow Central / Lancaster / Blackpool North / Preston / Manchester Piccadilly / Liverpool Lime Street / Holyhead / Chester / Wrexham General and London Euston
• London Northwestern Railway between Crewe and Rugby / Northampton / London Euston

There’s a faulty train on the line between Maidenhead and Bourne End, which is blocking all lines.

Services will be cancelled and the disruption is expected to last until 9am.

National Rail adds trains between Bourne End and Marlow are not affected by this disruption.

A vehicle has hit a railway bridge at Bootle New Strand, which is disrupting all Merseyrail trains which run between Liverpool Central and Southport.

Passengers are facing half-hour delays, cancellations, and services could be revised.

There’s a tree blocking the railway between Oxted and Hurst Green this morning, causing major disruption to Southern and Thameslink services in the area.

Engineers are on their way to assess the damage.

National Rail is telling passengers to delay their journey until later today, adding that anyone trying to travel now will face a much longer journey than usual and may need to use an alternative route.

It’s impacting the following services:

• Southern between London Victoria and East Grinstead
• Southern between London Bridge and Uckfield
• Thameslink between Bedford / London Bridge and East Grinstead