My daughter, who's coming home for Christmas from York this afternoon on a pre-booked ticket, says s

• Heathrow has reopened its second runway but passengers are urged not to come to the aiport unless they have a confirmed booking apartment rentals sudbury ontario . Airlines are currently operating a significantly reduced schedule while they move diverted aircraft and crew back into position. Heathrow will operate apartment rentals sudbury ontario about a third of scheduled apartment rentals sudbury ontario flights until at least 6am on Thursday.
• David Cameron said he was "frustrated" by the continued disruption at Heathrow as the government offered military support to help clear the snow . There have also been flight disruptions at Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow, as well as Gatwick, London Luton and London City airports.
apartment rentals sudbury ontario The southern runway at Heathrow is now open. Airlines are currently operating a significantly reduced schedule while they move diverted aircraft and crew back into position, and it is extremely apartment rentals sudbury ontario important that passengers do not travel to the airport unless they have confirmed their booking with their airline and their flight apartment rentals sudbury ontario is shown as operating on www.heathrowairport.com . We are now working with airlines to return to a normal schedule as quickly as possible and we will provide further updates on our website, Twitter, Facebook and mobile apps as more information is confirmed.
My daughter, who's coming home for Christmas from York this afternoon on a pre-booked ticket, says she's just been told by staff at York that it's everyone for themselves and she should apartment rentals sudbury ontario try to come south via Manchester, which she's now going to do, trusting that they won't play up about her not being on the non-existent 7pm York to Kings Cross train... Not so bizarre, because apartment rentals sudbury ontario I got a letter from South Eastern this week telling me I should not have got on a peak time service to get to work the other day, even though it arrived so late that it was after the scheduled start of off-peak services. There are some trains more equal than others, evidently - I hope that doesn't hold in the snow too...
An enormous queue formed at King's Cross following the announcement that a diesel train, which is unaffected by the powerline failure, apartment rentals sudbury ontario was heading to Scotland via the North East and Yorkshire. Lance Corporal Neil Odger, who returned from Afghanistan at the end of November, hoped to get on to return to Catterick Garrison in north Yorkshire. L/Cpl Odger, of the Military Police, said: "It's this train or bust, really. I can't really apartment rentals sudbury ontario do another apartment rentals sudbury ontario expensive night in London." Despite the queue, he said: "I'm pretty sure I'll get on this one. I'm not sure what I'll do if I don't."
Most of Northern England has had another day of beautiful cloudless sunshine, with the best views of this morning's eclipse as a bonus. But it has been fiercely cold with emergency plumbers working overtime; and for hundreds of Yorkshire and north eastern households, Christmas visits from relatives down south and beyond apartment rentals sudbury ontario have been messed up by the chaos on the East Coast main line between Huntingdon and King's Cross.
Police in Newcastle-upon-Tyne have spent the day searching for a 21-year-old, Duncan Gibbon from Northallerton in North Yorkshire, who was last seen late on Saturday night leaving Fever Bar on the city's Quayside where he had been out with friends. Mountain rescue specialists from the Cheviots have joined a search of steep, tangled areas between the river Tyne and the keep of the mediaeval castle after which the city is named.
Staff at the Cheshire Oaks aquarium apartment rentals sudbury ontario near Ellesmere Port have revived a baby puffer apartment rentals sudbury ontario fish which was left on their doorstep in an ice cream tub in near-freezing water. The spined tropical fish appeared to be dead but revived after gradual raising of the water's temperature over four hours.
Aquarium curator Andrea Redfern said: "It was hit and miss for a while but miraculously he now appears to be making an extraordinary recovery and is settling in well in his own little tank in our quarantine facility." The fish has been named Prancer after one of Santa's reindeer.
3.54pm: The Press Association apartment rentals sudbury ontario reports that all passengers left stranded after electric cables came down in the Huntingdon area have been rescued. The passengers were on four trains travelling towards King's Cross, when they got stuck after electric apartment rentals sudbury ontario cables came down in the Huntingdon area.
In a statement it also said four trains that were suspended on the route are now on the move (earlier it said six trains were stuck). Hundreds of passengers have been stuck for hours on those trains.
The airline are basically shunting people off flights in order to clear the backlog. Some other airlines seem to be doing the same, whereas others are trying to keep to timetable and fill in where they can with passengers from the weekend. We've just queued for 5 hours today, only to be told we're not on a flight at 2pm. We were rammed together like sardines in a queuing system from hell.
As for the airport itself, it's horrific. As you know people are sleeping on floors. I overheard a security guard say he had never seen it so bad. He said the volcanic ash cloud was nothing compared to this!
The biggest problem is the complete lack of information. No one really knows what's going on - staff and customers alike. There's a Salvation Army kitchen outside and in addition, security are making it very difficult to get into the building.
People are desperate to hear if their names are on magic lists of those who are going to get on a plane. It feels like we're refugees trying to flee the country. Of course apartment rentals sudbury ontario our position is far less serious, but there are tears from some and anger from others. The mood overall is pretty good natured but gradually people are getting upset and nerves are fraying.
Yesterday there were hundreds of people outside in the freezing cold prevented from getting into the Terminal building. Today the authorities seem to have erected an enormous marquee. Some of the airline info desks have been relocated here to keep the terminal a bit quieter, but, people are really reluctant to leave the building in case they can't get back in.
Russia is – unsurprisingly – well-equipped for battling snow. From its fleets apartment rentals sudbury ontario of gritting lorries to its nationwide army of dvorniki – the street cleaners who wake Russians every winter morning with the "scrape-scrape" of their shovels – this a country that knows how to fight the frost.
"The thing is that tractors and other special machinery can't always cope with drifts more than a metre high," explained Ivan Sakharov of UralVagonZavod , the town's famous factory that converted from building train carriages to tanks during the Second World War. "But our tanks can."
Given the amount of snow that has fallen... it is understandable that Heathrow had to close briefly. But I'm frustrated, on behalf of all those affected, that it has taken so long for the situation apartment rentals sudbury ontario to improve. There have been intensive discussions between Philip Hammond and BAA about how best to ensure that normal flying capacity is resumed apartment rentals sudbury ontario as soon as possible.
Snow ploughs are on that second runway as I speak, and the second apartment rentals sudbury ontario runway will be open by this evening. We are also working to ensure apartment rentals sudbury ontario that necessary de-icer equipment reaches airports as required. The people stuck there are having an incredibly difficult time, especially just a few days from Christmas. Every thing must be done to either get them on holiday or get them home safely.
2.08pm: David Cameron said he is "frustrated" that it is taking so long for normal service to resume at Heathrow. Speaking at a Downing Street press conference, he confirmed that the government had offered to send in troops to clear the snow.
• The East Coast mainline between Peterborough and King's Cross has been suspended after problems with frozen overhead cables. Hundreds of passengers were stranded on the line in trains without heat. The line is expected to open tomorrow.
• A government-commissioned review has called for an overall of the rail system in southern England to prevent a repeat of transport problems witnessed earlier this month . Transport secretary Philip Hammond said he backed the review.
1.32pm: Eurostar passenger Francis Lee managed to get a train yesterday after queuing for 10 hours. When his train finally got under way it contained apartment rentals sudbury ontario an empty carriage, he says. He took this photo as proof.
David Quarmby, chairman of the RAC Foundation, said much of the transport network had coped "admirably" with the recent deep freeze but there were lessons to be learned. Those included apartment rentals sudbury ontario urging the owner of Britain's rail network to investigate apartment rentals sudbury ontario replacing the third rail system that supplies power to trains in southern England. Acknowledging that such a move could be costly, he said: "I do believe that when the numbers are done that there will be a case for reconfiguring the third rail network."
The third rail, which runs parallel to rail tracks, can cripple trains if it becomes frozen or is covered in snow - as happened this month to commuters on the Southern, apartment rentals sudbury ontario Southeastern and South West Trains franchises. A Network Rail spokesman said the government-backed company would begin work on a feasibility study, although the most radical solution: putting in overhead power lines would cost billions of pounds including the need for new trains.
However, Quarmby apartment rentals sudbury ontario said the Met Office remained convinced that the severe cold snap is a one-off phenomenon, despite the UK experiencing bad weather apartment rentals sudbury ontario for three winters in a row. "We cannot say this is an annual event," said Quarmby, who said last winter's cold snap probably cost the economy around £1.5bn - £500m more than average. However, Quarmby said the high cost of winter disruption should apartment rentals sudbury ontario give politicians reason to consider a renewed investment programme in snow clearing equipment and preparing for bad winters.
I have become increasingly concerned about the problems relating to the infrastructure available to airlines – airports and ground handling - during this severe period of snow. It seems at this stage that this is a "weak link" in a chain which, under pressure, is contributing to severe disruption.
I intend to