Heathrow cancels 100 flights as strong winds cause chaos before Christmas

Strong winds continue to batter the UK today causing major travel disruptions as millions of people travel ahead of Christmas.

Heathrow Airport has cancelled more than 100 flights on Sunday, while ferries, roads and trains across the country have also been affected.

The Met Office has a yellow weather warning in place for Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and much of western England until 9pm, with winds of up to 70mph expected.

At Heathrow, 80 of the cancellations are on British Airways and involve European and domestic flight.

The airline said in a statement: ‘Due to adverse weather this weekend, restrictions have been put on the number of flights able to take off and land at Heathrow and therefore we’ve had to make a small number of cancellations.

‘We’re offering free flight changes for those customers booked on short-haul services who don’t wish to travel this weekend, and we will be offering rebooking and refund options as always to those whose journeys are disrupted as a result of the restrictions.’

Meanwhile, Northern has cancelled all trains on 11 routes due to crew availability.

Some roads have also closed. It comes as the AA predicts Sunday will see 21.3 million drivers get behind the wheel across the UK.