High winds cause chaos on roads, rail – and in the air

HIGH WINDS brought travel chaos to the North of England and parts of Scotland yesterday.

The strong winds, remnants of Hurricanes Lee and Maria over the Atlantic, hit the country yesterday, resulting in trouble on the roads and planes struggling to land.

Storms of up top 70mph were recorded and planes were seen struggling to land due to the heavy gales at Leeds Bradford Airport.

A yellow warning for strong winds in the North of England and Scotland was issued by the Met Office and was expected to last until last night while temperatures could plummet to as low as 4C in some parts this week.

The majority of disruption was in Scotland, with the Dornoch Bridge and the Tay Road Bridge closed to high-sided vehicles.

The Forth Road Bridge, which connects Fife to Edinburgh, was shut to cyclists and pedestrians.

Met Office spokesman Oli Claydon. It’s going to be typically autumnal this week.

And a number of ferries to the Western Isles were cancelled by CalMac and Northlink Ferries.

The yellow warning for strong winds yesterday read: “Strong west or northwest winds are likely to affect Northern areas of the UK on Monday.

“Some delays to road, rail, air and ferry transport are likely.

“Some bus and train journeys may be affected with some journeys taking longer.

“Delays for high-sided vehicles on exposed routes and bridges are likely. Some short-term interruptions to power supplies are possible.”

Met Office spokesman Oli Claydon said: ‘It’s going to be typically autumnal this week. There is a real North-South divide with blustery weather in the North of England and Scotland and dry sunshine in the South.” He said rain may be more persistent today.