Travel Delays

[iamarover]

My trip to Leicester this afternoon could be totally screwed as the M5 motorway is shut for 25 miles, north and south, because someone drove into a Pylon.

I may have to head east and travel up via Oxford which will add another hour onto my already 4 hour journey.

[Rover the Top]

Yeah, but that's what you get for living beyond civilisation, aka "The South West".

I've always wondered why the roads are so crap down there, given that Cornwall and Devon are popular holiday destinations.

[iamarover]

me too, you'd think they'd have fitted a second motorway, just in case or something.

either that or some kind of fast road/motorway around bristol to the south. always seems to be trouble there.

[SheepShagginRover]

Wales has one motorway in the whole country, now that sucks. It goes into Cardiff and thats it. So mid and North Wales (v.popular with scousers for holidays) is motorwayless and thus is absolute hell in summer.

[SheepShagginRover]

Its open south-bound now.

Car hit electricity pylon/pole

[Rover the Top]

North Wales has the, um, A55? which is as good as a motorway, at least as far as Bangor. But it is easy to forget how cut off certain parts of the UK are when you live in Lancashire. We have motorways connecting us to places we don't want to go to...

[Dan]

Wales has one motorway in the whole country, now that sucks. It goes into Cardiff and thats it. So mid and North Wales (v.popular with scousers for holidays) is motorwayless and thus is absolute hell in summer.

Surely a new motorway would encourage more scousers?

[SheepShagginRover]

Doesnt bother me, I dont live in Prestatyn/Rhyl

[Gibbon]

Took us 8 hours to drive upto Barnlongart in Argyle on Saturday, rather than the planned for 6. And a mate of ours who set off from Sheffield a couple of hours later than us managed to make it into a 12 hour journey.

Lovely here though.

[Rover the Top]

Now I'm not a climate change scientist, so I don't expect people to be able to do anything to change the weather. My flight into Manchester got cancelled last night because of the strong winds, and I accept that as just one of those things. However, the airports/airlines could do a hell of a lot more for customers when things go wrong.

I expected there was going to be a problem when I saw the Met Office warnings early in the day. But there were no messages on the airport or airline websites, and flights appeared to be going ahead as scheduled, although one had been delayed for about 25 minutes. So I finished work, got dropped off at the airport, checked in and went through the pointless security check (I got the full works this time, belt off, shoes off, pockets emptied and still the alarm went off even though I know I had nothing on me to set it off). All the screens said we were leaving on time, right until we reached the boarding time, when there was an announcement of a 25 minute delay. A knock-on effect from the earlier delayed flight I thought, but then half an hour later it was announced that Manchester airport had been closed and our flight was cancelled. I then had to go and reclaim my bag and return to the check-in desk to arrange another flight home.

Strangely, at this point the later flight to Manchester, due to leave in about an hour, was still shown as being on time and people in the queue were hoping they'd be transferred on to that. It seemed to me that there was no chance of that, as if there was a chance to get into Manchester then our flight would have just been delayed. Still, they only announced the cancellation for that later flight at the last minute as well. Anyway, I could have waited until today to catch another flight back to Manchester, but with nowhere to stay and our office closed, I decided I'd be better catching the last flight to Birmingham and using the coach they were putting on for us.

By the time I'd got back through security (no alarm this time, even though I forgot to empty my pockets...), it was nearly boarding time. So I quickly scoffed a packet of peanuts (the first thing I'd eaten since lunch) and joined near the back of the queue to board the plane. We waited for several minutes, before being told we had to go back to the departure lounge. No announcement was made, but a message was put on the screen to say more information would be given at 20:30. I was now quite hungry, but all the shops had now shut as all the flights were supposed to have gone. Half 8 came and went without the promised announcement, and I was starting to expect the worst when at 9 o'clock we were told to head to a different gate and boarded a different plane which finally took us back to England.

Once we reached Birmingham, things were slow but fairly straightforward. There was a shop open and I was able to get a sandwich, and the coach journey was reasonably painless save for a detour around Wolverhampton because of a closure on the M6. I eventually got home at 1:50am, and I'm knackered now.

But I'm not so bothered about the delay. It's just the airport and the airline could have been far more helpful. If they'd announced the cancellation earlier, then I could have made arrangements to stay another night in Northern Ireland. If they'd told me when I arrived at the airport, I'd have been able to sort out getting a meal there. I don't believe for one minute that they only found out there was a problem half an hour before the flight was due to leave, the plane coming in should have been about to land by that point.

[Savory]

this is roverstalk mate

[Dan]

I'm supposed to be catching a plane from Manchester on Saturday morning. Fingers crossed.

[Rover the Top]

Take an extra big net...

[SheepShagginRover]

I prefer walking distance: Commutes are an arse. A lot depends on your location of work, family/work balance, value for money.

Commutes are all that is feasible for many.

[mrblackbat]

I don't understand why commutes were brought up when they hadn't been mentioned by anyone...