Our Blog

6th February 2012

The newspapers have been predicting a huge freeze, epic storms and the country coming to a frozen stand-still and it finally happened, well for a weekend at least.

In London, at least we were treated to a snowy Saturday evening and cold Sunday, accompanied by the usual delayed trains, precarious walking and excited children off to the park with parents in tow.

Heathrow airport had cancelled half of the flights in the hours after the white stuff had stopped falling, trains and tube services have also been disrupted. Around 400 passengers for transatlantic journeys were stranded in Ireland after six London-bound flights were affected.

Angry travellers have been questioning the reasons behind the mass-dissruption to the flights, despite knowing about the impending weather days in advance. Although the airport have said their ”snow plan” had worked “far better” than in previous years. “We took the decision with airlines and air traffic control yesterday to reduce the flight schedule in advance. By cancelling flights in advance airlines have been able to rebook some people on to flights that are departing, and passengers have had better quality information about whether they can fly or not.”

There also have been some delays and cancellations at Stansted and Gatwick airports. Reports have announced that the majority of the disruptions have passed, but check before travelling to your flight.

There were also hundreds of cars, left stranded on the M25 and M40, with some drivers facing a frosty night in their vehicles.

Apart from the areas of the country where the snow was deeper and the gritting resources aren’t so prevalent, this slushy Monday morning doesn’t seem to have made too much of an impact to UK businesses. That is, however unless your company relies on bad weather! A British Gas spokesperson has reported more than 200,000 calls in the last five days compared with the usual winter-week 120,000-140,000 enquiries. Gritting companies have also enjoyed a bumper weekend, though a notably slow mild-winter.

After last year’s snowfall, bringing many areas of the United Kingdom to a complete stand-still and making the commute to and from work impossible, there has been a huge public pressure to be ready for whatever the season brings.

If your business has been affected by this weekend’s weather or you’re making precautions for the rumoured next snowfall, let us know on our Twitter feed @GailKennyRec, LinkedIn Group or by commenting on the blog.