IT’S A JULY RECORD BAKER
Travel chaos in 100.6F heat – just a fraction short of all-time high
BRITAIN went into meltdown yesterday as the temperature hit 100F for only the second time on record.
The mercury reached a sweltering 38.1C (100.6F) in Cambridge, making it the hottest July day since records began.
It was just short of Britain’s hottest reading of 38.5C (101.3F) but still warmer than the likes of Cairo, Barbados and Athens.
Overhead train cables sagged, roads melted ‘like chocolate’, and fights broke out at outdoor swimming pools across the UK. Rail commuters faced thousands of cancellations and delays, with warnings not to even try to travel.
London’s Euston station became so packed it had to ban passengers from entering at one point last night. And all London North Eastern services in and out of King’s Cross were cancelled.
The Midland Main Line out of London was shut due to ‘multiple incidents’, stopping trains to parts of the Midlands and North.
Despite police warnings not to swim during the heatwave, a body was pulled from the sea in Sussex yesterday. It followed the discovery of the bodies of three men who drowned in separate incidents in London and Gloucestershire.
Europe was also melting, with a record-breaking 40.6C (105.1F) in Paris. Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands also hit new highs.
But Britain’s heatwave came to a dramatic end last night as hail and spectacular electrical thunderstorms hit parts of the North and Scotland. Temperatures are expected to return to normal today. As Britain sweltered:
At least 19 rail firms were forced to cancel or delay services because of sagging overhead cables;
Passengers were seen ‘ collapsing’ as a Virgin train broke down shortly after leaving London;
Thousands of homeowners in Bristol were left without water after a pipe burst;
A Met Office expert warned climate change was to blame.
The UK was expected to record its hottest temperature yesterday, exceeding the 38.5C (101.3F) in Faversham, Kent, in 2003. But it fell just short due to late cloud cover.
By yesterday evening rail passengers on services including Virgin Trains, East Midlands and Thameslink were being asked not to travel. The heat caused overhead electric cables to expand and sag. They were then broken as they hit the pantographs on top of trains, which collect electricity.
Passengers stuck for three hours on a Virgin London to Manchester service reported ‘manic’ scenes when it lost power. One said temperatures on board hit 40C (104F).
Pete Smith, 44, said: ‘Everybody looks like they have had a shower. It’s baking. It’s dripping wet.’ He said some passengers had fainted.
Thomas Ferguson, 22, was stuck for three hours when an East Midlands train from Sheffield to London broke down in a tunnel. He said: ‘There was no water, no air conditioning. There was a woman on board going through labour.
‘They were asking if there were any doctors on board over the speaker system. We had to evacuate eventually, leaving our luggage on board. It was awful.’
To stop tracks buckling, some trains were forced to crawl at 20mph, while speed limits on most South East commuter lines were halved from 60mph to 30mph.
Network Rail put speed restrictions in many places from noon to 8pm to ease pressure on the tracks. But hundreds of thousands of commuters faced torturous journeys home as temperatures remained in the high 30s celsius (the 90s fahrenheit). On East Midlands Trains passengers complained of ‘roasting’ temperatures
on board, with children crying and water shortages.
Gritters were deployed on some roads amid RAC warnings that tarmac could ‘melt like chocolate’. There were reports of melting surfaces in Grimsby, Lincolnshire.
Despite the heat, hail fell on parts of the North. A Meteogroup forecaster said it happens because tall clouds that build in extreme heat collide with ice, creating hail. Paramedics were called to Norman’s Bay in East Sussex after a body was spotted in the sea. Rescuers pulled the victim on to the beach but he was declared dead. Meanwhile Grenadier Guards sweated outside Buckingham Palace and king penguins at Birdland, Gloucestershire, cooled off with the help of giant ice blocks. Dr Peter Stott, of the Met Office, said global warming was making regular heatwaves much more likely. He added: ‘There’s no doubt climate change is playing a role here.’
Network Rail said: ‘We’re sorry some passengers are experiencing uncomfortable conditions.’ Virgin Trains said all passengers were safely evacuated from its broken down train to another service.