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AIRPORT PICKUPS LONDON

The Summer Exodus Begins
27 - Jul - 2014

The summer exodus begins!

It’s begun!  With many schools breaking up for the summer holidays this week, many families will be packing their bags and heading for their nearest airport to depart on their annual summer holidays.  Travel chaos could well be abound as it is predicted that around one million Londoners alone with fly away this weekend across the airports in the south of the UK – approximately 450,000 from Heathrow, 295,000 from Gatwick, 140,000 from Stansted and 79,000 from Luton

Over the summer period, Gatwick and Heathrow are likely to see around 9 million people pass through their airports with Spain being the main destination, according to ABTA.  But as we bathe in glorious sunshine and almost tropical temperatures, families are opting to holiday in the British Isles with many heading to coastal locations and holiday parks. 

Motoring organisations are recommending that people allow plenty of time on routes in and out of the capital over the weekend, predicting that the busiest roads will be the M20 to the M25 and Dover, the M25 to the M1, the M22, Stansted and Gatwick airports.

The good news on our railways is that there are no major closures for this weekend; that said (and it was too good to be true!), the West Coast Mainline at Watford has engineering work going on so there will be no trains between Hemel Hempstead and Euston for the weekends in August.  Plus, there will be no Southern or First Capital Connect services calling at London Bridge between 23rd and 31st August.

And if you’re planning on travelling on the underground, beware!  This week temperatures have exceeded 34 degrees Centigrade, which is a 4 degrees higher than EU legislation states is safe to transport livestock!  Bus travellers fared worse with temperatures higher than 35 degrees Centigrade – unbelievable!  Transport for London responded by saying they “still had much to do” to deal with the extreme high temperatures in summer, stating that by 2016 they will have trebled the number air-conditioned tube trains that will cover 40% of the underground network – really?  TfL also reported that two-thirds of London’s 6,100 double decker buses have a cooling system on their upper decks… ummm.  If temperatures in the summer are going to continue to reach these sorts of levels year-on-year, and it is predicted to do so, maybe it’s time TfL trebled their efforts in easing the illegal temperatures being experienced on their transport systems!

By Airport Pickups London