UK travel chaos hits British holidaymakers – live updates

Trains between Birmingham New Street and Lichfield Trent Valley are cancelled until the end of the day, following a fire beside the tracks at Aston.

Fire engines were dispatched to the blaze just after 9am, with a fire brigade spokesman telling the Birmingham Mail: “This is a fire on an embankment, which damaged vegetation and railway signalling cable.”

West Midlands Trains services will be disrupted as a result of the track closure caused by the fire.

Damage to signalling cables typically means all signals in the affected area automatically turn red as a safety precaution, halting trains.

Engineers then have to come out not only to replace the damaged cable but also to carry out safety tests ensuring everything else is working normally before trains can run again.

Flights from Heathrow Airport are currently delayed by an average of half an hour with 68 affected so far this morning, according to Flight Radar 24.

Weather forecasts of strong winds at the country’s busiest airport have also restricted the number of flights allowed to land, according to air traffic control body Eurocontrol.

Strong winds mean controllers have to leave bigger gaps between landing aeroplanes so they can safely navigate challenging conditions as they descend the last few miles towards the runway.

Eurocontrol also warned of thunderstorms on the continent, with mountainous regions of Spain, Italy and the southern Balkans expected to be affected.

Airline flights crossing Eastern France are also likely to hit “moderate delays” thanks to air traffic controller shortages, the cross-continent organisation warned.

A so-called “bridge bashing” is affecting trains to and from London Liverpool Street station.

A vehicle hit a bridge near Bethal Green in east London, meaning trains on Greater Anglia and on the Stansted Express are now subject to delays of up to 20 minutes.

Lines have reopened after the incident, although mainline rail tickets are still being accepted on London Underground at the time of writing.

Bridge bashes force rail lines to be closed until safety inspectors can verify that the affected bridge is safe to carry trains again. A typical passenger train carriage weighs around 40 tonnes.

Delays also hit London Underground commuters on Friday morning, with the Metropolitan Line being partially suspended and the Jubilee Line subject to “severe delays”.

A trespasser on the tracks at Willesden Green caused Met Line services to be cancelled between Wembley Park and Aldgate, which is the majority of the line’s length.

It runs between Aldgate and destinations in the west including Watford, Amersham, Chesham and Uxbridge.

Severe delays hit the Jubilee Line because of the same trespasser. Met and Jubilee tracks run alongside each other at Willesden Green.

Minor delays on the Piccadilly Line caused more airport travel misery, with services between Acton Town and Heathrow being affected by an earlier broken-down train at Northfields.

On Chiltern Railways, trains were being cancelled between Marylebone and Birmingham International, the city’s airport station, after a police incident forced the closure of all tracks leading out of the London terminus.

All Chiltern routes will be subject to delays or cancellations until further notice, the company said.

Greater Anglia trains serving Stansted are running with hour-long delays after emergency services closed the lines following a person being struck by a train at Audley End in Essex.

The lines were closed for around an hour but Greater Anglia warned that trains between Liverpool Street and Stansted Airport, as well as London and Cambridge, would be subject to delays, alterations and cancellations.

Thameslink, which serves London Gatwick and Luton airports, was hit with “a number of incidents” including a points failure near St Albans that triggered “major disruption” to its services. The company warned of 30-minute delays between Luton and St Albans.

It also said trains are “unable to call at London Bridge, in the direction of London Blackfriars, until further notice” as a result of a separate points failure between the two stations.

“If you are travelling towards London, and need to alight at London Bridge, you will have to continue through to London Blackfriars and catch a return service,” Thameslink added.