Storm brings travel chaos

The Great Storm of 2013 has brought travel chaos to passengers, with all forms of transport hit by the hurricane-force conditions.

With dozens of trees falling on to rail lines, nearly all main line services failed to run during the morning rush-hour, while those London-bound commuters taking to the Tube found the open-air sections of the Underground badly affected.

The port of Dover had to shut, more than 130 flights at Heathrow Airport were cancelled and many roads were impassable due to fallen trees.

The chaos is likely to last well into the day, with the First Capital Connect train company saying there will be no services until further notice.

Some of the other train companies said they would be unable to run services until at least 10am. These included Stansted Express and Greater Anglia.

Passengers on one London Midland train leaving Northampton at 7am bound for Euston station in London were heavily delayed and only got as far as Tring in Hertfordshire before having to make a return journey.

While RMT union leader Bob Crow blamed the lack of services on staff cuts, rail infrastructure company Network Rail (NR) said lives would have been put at risk if trains had run during the early morning storms.

There were severe delays on Britain's busiest motorway, the M25, due to the shutting of the Queen Elizabeth II bridge at the Dartford River Crossing. A section of the M11 in Essex was closed due to an overturned lorry.

On the England-Wales border, the M48 Severn Bridge was closed in both directions between junction 2 at the A466 (Chepstow) and junction 1 at the A403, because of strong winds.

Other motorways with hold-ups included the M2 in Kent, the M3 in Surrey, the M4 in Berkshire, the M6 in Cheshire and the M8 in Renfrewshire, Scotland.