Fire destroys car on M62 causing hour-long delays

Heavy flooding between Banbury and Bicester North and Haddenham & Thame Parkway is still causing trouble to Chiltern Railways services.

The disruption has now been extended until the end of the day.

Trains that can run could be delayed by up to 30 minutes and they have to travel at a ‘severely reduced speed,’ National Highways warned.

Passengers can use their tickets on the following routes.

• Avanti West Coast services between Birmingham New Street and London Euston
• CrossCountry between Leamington Spa and Reading
• Great Western Railway services between Banbury and London Paddington
• West Midlands Railway via any reasonable route

The Prime Minister delivered his speech at the Labour Party conference today, vowing to bring ‘our railways back into public ownership’ as he spoke to the crowds in Liverpool.  

The government has already rushed The Railway Services Bill through the House of Commons.

It is due to be debated on October 7.

The legislation means the government can take over services from private train firms when their franchises expire.

Transport Secretary Louise Haigh said previously that she would be ‘wasting no time’ in bringing train services under public ownership.

The first operators to be nationalised could be Greater Anglia and West Midlands after their contract terms expired last week.

Traffic struggles to cope on the M62 after a car fire outside Bradford, West Yorkshire.

The motorway is blocked westbound between junction J27 (M621/Gildersome) and J26 (M606/J1 Chain Bar), with just one lane remaining open.

National Highways warned of 60-minute delays against expected traffic.

The airline has cancelled all of its flights from Southampton Airport next summer.

In case you missed it, read more about it below.

A crash at lunchtime is causing congestion on the A316 in Chiswick.

It happened at about 1pm on the A316 Burlington Lane on the northbound lane near the A4 (Hogarth Roundabout).

As a result, congestion stretches to the cemetery and past Chiswick House.

The London Underground line has been partially suspended after an earlier signal failure.

As a result, the District line has no service between High Street Kensington and Edgware Road.

The stretch between Earl’s Court and Wimbledon has minor delays, the latest TfL travel alert says.

Being stuck on a delayed train is frustrating when you have places to be.

Many passengers spent longer on journeys yesterday and today due to delays caused by flooding across the rail network.

The thin silver lining is that passengers may be entitled to compensation – you might have heard an announcement on board saying you could make a claim.

Here is our delay compensation guide.

• In case your train was delayed or cancelled and you chose not to travel, the original retailer can it without any fees
• usually kicks in if a train is delayed more than 15 minutes, but longer delays will be compensated differently than short ones
• You will need to request compensation directly from your train company
• National Rail has a handy list of UK rail operators here.
• The refund amount will depend on , the , and the
• The claims can be made online or by post using a form that can be downloaded from a train company website or picked up from a staffed station
• It is worth noting down the times of travel when you’re travelling and face delays
• Also, delay compensation claims might have a cut-off point after some time, so it is worth making a claim as soon as possible after travel

Drivers have been warned of congestion on the A2 near Dartford and M25 after loose animals on the carriageway.

Traffic is queueing due to the escape artists running wild on the bypass.

One lane out of four is closed eastbound at B255 Bean Lane (Bean Interchange), according to an Inrix alert.

It is causing tailbacks to the A282 Dartford Crossing.

The London Underground coped well through the morning rush hour, but now Elizabeth and Victoria lines are disrupted.

• Elizabeth line – Serious delays between Shenfield and Whitechapel due repairs to fix a failed signal system
• Victoria line – Severe delays due to an earlier faulty train at Highbury & Islington. Passengers can use tickets on the Overground, Great Northern, Thameslink, Greater Anglia, SWR and Southeastern trains

The UK’s second busiest airport appears to have no cancellations so far today, but there are delays.

Here are the departing flights that were listed as delayed.

• TUI at 9.05am to Kos

• Iberia/EasyJet/Vueling/British Airways at 9.10am to Barcelona

• EasyJet at 9.10am to Palma de Mallorca

• British Airways at 9.25am to Dublin

• EasyJet at 9.55am to Faro

• British Airways at 11.15am to Izmir 

• British Airways at 1.35pm to Antalya

• EasyJet at 3.15pm to Enfidha

The London airports managed to avoid weather-related issues yesterday during heavy downpours.

A handful of flights were axed at Heathrow yesterday, but these were unrelated to the weather.

Here are the departing flights that appeared as cancelled on the Heathrow Airport departure board shortly before 9am.

• British Airways at 6.40am to Tel Aviv

• British Airways at 7.40am to Bologna

• KLM at 8.40am to Amsterdam

• British Airways at 8.50am to Munich

• British Airways at 9.20am to Milan

• British Airways at 10.25am to Delhi

• British Airways at 12.05pm to Brussels

• British Airways at 12.20pm to Milan

• United Airlines at 12.20pm to San Francisco

• Virgin Atlantic at 12.45pm to Seattle

• British Airways 4.30pm to Rome

• British Airways at 5.15pm to Edinburgh

• British Airways at 6.15pm to Glasgow

Have you been affected? Please email [email protected] – we’re keen to hear from you.

This is affecting CrossCountry and South Western Railway (SWR) trains between Bournemouth, London Waterloo and Manchester.

The faulty signal system was spotted between Basingstoke and Winchester.

As a result, trains might be cancelled, revised or delayed by up to 30 minutes.

And the disruption is not expected to clear anytime soon – National Rail estimates it could continue until 4pm.

Here are the affected routes.

• – Manchester Piccadilly / Birmingham New Street and Bournemouth
• – Basingstoke and Bournemouth, between Winchester and Southampton Central / Bournemouth / Poole, and also between London Waterloo and Portsmouth Harbour / Southampton Central / Bournemouth / Weymouth

Commuters were left frustrated at Hackney Wick, east London, after a freight train blocked the tracks at peak rush hour.

Footage shows the container freight train sitting on the tracks on platform two this morning.

An eyewitness said all trains going east were delayed because the container train was sat on the tracks for 20 minutes.

Another signalling issue has hit the railway network – this time at Maryland, east London.

Unfortunately for passengers, Elizabeth line on the London Underground and Greater Anglia trains could be cancelled, delayed by up to 25 minutes or revised.

At the moment, the disruption is expected to clear just after rush hour at 9.30am.

The rest of the Elizabeth line has good service.

Drivers heading to Blackwall Tunnel should allow extra time and patience after a warning over long delays.

Traffic analyst Inrix says the A102 northbound before the tunnel has heavy congestion, stretching to the A2 into Blackheath.

Traffic appears to move slowly in both Blackwall Tunnel South and North.

Train lines towards London from Banbury and Bicester North are blocked after heavy flooding.

This means commuters on face delays of up to half an hour, cancellations or diversions.

Trains towards London will skip Bicester North, so passengers should travel from Bicester Village instead, National Rail said.

The disruption is expected to last until 12 midday, but this might be revised.

Passengers can use their tickets on Great Western Railway between Banbury and London.

The affected routes are Birmingham Snow Hill / Birmingham Moor Street / Banbury and London Marylebone.

This is affecting all Avanti West Coast and London Northwestern Railway services running between Rugby and Milton Keynes.

The disruption is set to last throughout the rush hour period, and is predicted to end at around 10am.

National Rail has provided advice for people hoping to travel to or through these stations this morning:

You can use your ticket to travel on the following service at no extra cost:

• CrossCountry, London North Eastern Railway, London Northwestern Railway and TransPennine Trains via any reasonable.
• Great Western Railway and Northern via any reasonable route.

• You may use your ticket on Avanti West Coast services via any reasonable route.
• Rail replacement transport (supplied via Stagecoach) is operating between Northampton and Milton Keynes Central via Wolverton.

Yesterday’s flooding is still having an impact in Kent and Sussex. Part of the signalling system failed near Wadhurst after heavy rain partially flooded the railway.

Repairs weren’t completed overnight, so Southeastern’s Hastings line won’t be able to run a full service until the end of the day.

An hourly train will run between Hastings and Tonbridge all day today, but services could still be cancelled, delayed by up to 45 minutes, or changed.

The Tube is currently running fairly smoothly this morning, with just some minor delays on three lines.

The Hammersmith & City and Circle lines are both facing minor delays due to a signalling problem in the Hammersmith area.

Meanwhile the District line is also facing minor delays between Earl’s Court and Wimbledon after a signal failure at East Putney.

TfL says there’s good service on the rest of the District line.