Woking NHS nurse campaigns for 'urgent' train ticket reform
Ms Arias, who works as a paediatric cardiac intensive care nurse at Great Ormond Street Hospital, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service she sometimes "regrets moving to Woking".She added she works 12-hour shifts, often overnight, and purchases two tickets for each shift, one to travel in and another to get home the next morning as existing train tickets expire at 04:29 BST."When we work a night shift, we don't have a break and then we have to pay for another ticket. It's just not fair," she said.Although there are other hospitals in Surrey, Ms Arias said she never wanted to leave her current job.
'Expensive and inflexible'
"Working at Great Ormond Street Hospital is a great sense of achievement," she added. "It's the best thing I've ever done."Originally from Spain, Ms Arias moved to the UK 13 years ago and said she was "shocked" by how expensive and "inflexible" British transport was.She added that in Madrid, commuters could purchase transport passes for bus, train and rail for £70 a month.
Another campaign which Ms Arias started was a petition for an NHS railcard which has reached more than 3,000 signatures on the House of Commons website.The DfT spokesperson added: "We've already delivered ticketing innovations such as contactless pay as you go to additional stations in Surrey this year. "This gives passengers the best value ticket for their journey, with additional stations expected to get the technology soon."
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The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Airports in chaos after air traffic control outage grounds flights across UK
An air traffic control fault left tens of thousands of summer holidaymakers facing the chaos of grounded planes and suspended take-offs on Wednesday. Passengers across Europe were stranded during the peak holiday season when planes were diverted, some turning around mid-air to return to their departure cities because of a 20-minute glitch. Heathrow, Gatwick, London City, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Manchester Airports were all among the airports hit by the outage that left many aircraft and flight crew out of position. Take-offs for thousands of passengers were cancelled because inbound flights had turned back. In some cases, travellers were held on planes on the tarmac with no news of when their flight might take off, or even after landing. Flights to destinations including Marseille, Lyon, Brussels, Glasgow, Newcastle, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Berlin, Frankfurt and Basel were cancelled. Some planes scheduled to arrive at UK airports were forced to conduct holding patterns or divert elsewhere. The disruption, which began just after 4pm on Wednesday, was down to a 'technical issue' at the control centre of ATC provider Nats in Swanwick, Hampshire, the company said. Flight analytics experts Cirium said that by 5.30pm, 80 flights to and from the UK had been cancelled. British Airways, which was the airline hardest hit, restricted Heathrow inbound and outbound flights to 32 an hour until 7.15pm before volumes returned to their usual 45 an hour, creating a backlog. Almost all BA flights on Wednesday evening were delayed, with at least a dozen encountering delays of two hours or more: to places including Chicago, New York JFK, Pittsburgh, Valencia, Prague, Nice, Edinburgh and Belfast City. Heathrow's night curfew was expected to be lifted to allow airlines to get their schedules back to normal. But the disruption left passengers upset. John Carr, from Stourbridge, was worried his flight cancellation would force him to miss his brother's wedding in Norway, for which he was best man. Mr Carr, 35, said: 'I'm pretty gutted. We've got loads of stuff in the suitcases to set up the venue, because we're obviously flying to Norway. We've got the wedding rehearsal to do. It's quite stressful.' Other passengers complained they were left confused because of 'terrible communication' from airports and airlines. Even passengers on later flights on Wednesday faced disruption. At Southend, an incoming plane from Gran Canaria ended up on Jersey, and a round-trip to Amsterdam was cancelled. London City airport was also badly hit, with one BA flight from Glasgow returning to its starting place, and links to Rotterdam, Palma and Amsterdam cancelled. Britain's biggest budget airline, easyJet, attacked Nats for 'once again causing disruption' after a system outage in August 2023 that caused chaos for at least 700,000 passengers. David Morgan, easyJet's chief operating officer, said: 'While our priority today is supporting our customers, we will want to understand from Nats what steps they are taking to ensure issues don't continue.' The airline cancelled at least 16 flights to and from its main base, Gatwick Airport. Passengers were told: 'We are advising customers travelling this evening to check our Flight Tracker for the most up-to-date information on their flight and are contacting all impacted customers directly. While this is outside of our control, we are sorry for the inconvenience caused by the ATC failure.' Ryanair went further, calling for Nats' chief executive Martin Rolfe to resign, claiming no lessons had been learnt in two years. Nats was contacted for comment. The company said: 'We are working with affected airlines and airports to clear the backlog safely. We apologise to everyone affected by this issue.' One expert said it was understood the software prioritised safety over keeping airspace open. Junade Ali, a fellow at the Institution of Engineering and Technology, said: 'Nats has previously thoroughly investigated such incidents and implemented suitable measures. 'From prior incident reports, the software is understood to not compromise safety at the expense of keeping airspace open. "This is the right approach as, whilst keeping airspace open is important, the public risk appetite demands a high standard of safety when it comes to air travel.' A Department for Transport spokesperson said: 'We are working closely with Nats to understand the cause of the technical issue and the implications for the resilience systems in place.' The Liberal Democrats called for an investigation into the glitch. Party leader Sir Ed Davey said: "With thousands of families preparing to go on a well-earned break, this just isn't good enough. 'The government should launch an urgent investigation to ensure the system is fit for purpose, including ruling out hostile action as a cause.'
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Holidaymakers face travel chaos after air traffic control radar failure
Summer holidaymakers are facing days of travel chaos after an air traffic control failure grounded flights across the UK. Airspace across Britain was closed on Wednesday afternoon because of a radar issue that disrupted hundreds of flights. While the breakdown was fixed within the hour, the knock-on effects from hundreds of delays and diversions – as well as at least 122 cancellations – are expected to last for days. Nats [National Air Traffic Services], the air traffic control company responsible for Britain's skies, refused to rule out hostile foreign action or a hack as the cause of the failure, fuelling calls for an 'urgent investigation' into possible malign interference. The system failure came at the peak of the summer holiday season and ahead of the busiest day of the year for commercial flights, which falls on Friday. Heidi Alexander, the Transport Secretary, said 'continued disruption is expected' and urged passengers to 'check with individual airports for advice'. Aviation expert John Strickland warned that holidaymakers could face days of chaos because airlines were already stretched thin during the summer getaway period. 'In the absolute worst case, this could knock on for the next few days because pretty much all airline fleets are being used at full tilt right now,' he said. However, affected travellers are unlikely to be eligible for compensation because the incident was out of the control of airlines, who would otherwise pay. Passengers were left on the tarmac at other airports across the UK including Heathrow, Birmingham, Gatwick, Stansted and Cardiff while arriving planes were sent to destinations in Europe such as Amsterdam, Paris and Brussels. Monica Clare, 68, was due to fly with her cousin Geri Hawkins, 71, on Aer Lingus to a wedding in Limerick, Ireland, but their 2.40pm flight from Heathrow was cancelled after the captain's shift ended during the disruption. In Edinburgh, a group of 40 French holidaymakers were left stranded after two flights to Paris were cancelled while tourists in Faro told The Telegraph that flight attendants were handing out water to cope with delays in the Portuguese heat. Virgin Atlantic apologised to affected passengers while British Airways (BA) said the problem was 'affecting the vast majority of our flights', with at least half a dozen flights diverted. A BA source said: 'We don't know what caused this yet but it appears to have been a radar issue and Nats are responsible for the radar, so you have to say the buck stops with them.' The Telegraph understands that the air traffic control system shut down when radar systems at Nats' Swanwick area control centre in Hampshire stopped displaying flights at around 2.30pm, forcing controllers to stop accepting new arrivals into UK airspace. All flights on the ground bound for UK airports were immediately stopped from taking off, while those which were airborne but outside British skies were ordered to divert elsewhere. Flights which were preparing to land in the UK when the failure happened were able to do so safely because it only affected Nats' upper airspace unit, which does not handle individual airports' operations. Domestic flights were able to continue operating during the outage provided they stayed below 24,500 feet, The Telegraph understands. That is because the outage was limited to the Swanwick centre, which only controls flights above that height. Nats came under fire for the failure, which came two years after an engineer who was working from home struggled to fix a four-hour outage. The failure forced the cancellation of thousands of flights around the world, disrupted 700,000 passengers' journeys and cost airlines, travellers and others an estimated £100 million in total. On Wednesday Ryanair called on Martin Rolfe, Nats's chief executive, to resign after claiming 'no lessons had been learnt' from the 2023 meltdown. Neal McMahon, Ryanair's chief operating officer, said: 'It is outrageous that passengers are once again being hit with delays and disruption due to Martin Rolfe's continued mismanagement of Nats. 'Yet another ATC system failure has resulted in the closure of UK airspace meaning thousands of passengers' travel plans have been disrupted. 'It is clear that no lessons have been learnt since the August 2023 Nats system outage and passengers continue to suffer as a result.' He called on the Transport Secretary to 'act without delay to remove Martin Rolfe and deliver urgent reform of Nats's shambolic ATC service, so that airlines and passengers are no longer forced to endure these preventable delays caused by persistent Nats failures'. Air traffic control bosses confirmed on Wednesday afternoon that service had been restored but refused to answer any queries about the root cause or Mr Rolfe's future with the company. In a statement, Nats said: 'Our engineers have now restored the system that was affected this afternoon. We are in the process of resuming normal operations in the London area. 'We continue to work closely with airline and airport customers to minimise disruption. We apologise for any inconvenience this has caused.' Sir Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, called for a Government inquiry into whether Nats fell victim to a foreign hack. Sir Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, said on Wednesday: 'It is utterly unacceptable that after a major disruption just two years ago, air traffic control has once again been hit by a technical fault. 'The Government should launch an urgent investigation to ensure the system is fit for purpose, including ruling out hostile action as a cause.' A Department for Transport spokesperson said: 'While passengers should continue to check with individual airports for advice, Nats have confirmed their systems are now fully operational and flights are returning to normal. 'We are working closely with Nats to understand the cause of the technical issue and the implications for the resilience systems in place.'
The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
Urgent message sent to pilots after all outbound UK flights grounded by radar failure revealed
TENS of thousands of holidaymakers were hit by more air chaos yesterday — just four months after the Heathrow blaze shambles. A radar system failure shut down the country's air traffic control network on one of the busiest days of the year — affecting some 577,000 passengers on 3,080 flights. 6 6 6 Things were slowly returning to normal last night but a total of 45 departures were cancelled, 35 arriving flights diverted and hundreds of others delayed — with Heathrow the worst affected airport. Furious airline bosses have called for the head of the air traffic control chief after they had to rip-up timetables. A similar 2023 failure cost carriers £100million. And in March a fire at an electricity substation shut Heathrow, costing tens of millions of pounds as 270,000 air passenger journeys were cancelled or delayed. Yesterday's meltdown hit the National Air Traffic Services (Nats) hub at Swanwick, Hants. Air traffic controllers tasked with safely handling around 2.2million flights and 250million passengers in UK airspace each year had no option but to shut down because they were no longer certain of the gaps between planes. Unfolding chaos The Sun can reveal cockpit crews were urgently messaged: 'Please be aware that there is an ATC radar failure at Swanwick which has zero rated UK airspace as of 14.30 GMT. 'We would appreciate your patience whilst we work through this unforeseen disruption.' An easyJet captain whose plane bound for Budapest was stuck on the tarmac at Gatwick for an hour joked: 'They've turned it off and turned it back on again.' But it was no laughing matter as major airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Edinburgh and Birmingham were forced to suddenly suspend services. Delayed holidaymakers vented their frustration at the unfolding chaos. Jane Ainsworth told how her flight from Kos to Birmingham was forced to land in Brussels. Robin Ilott, 62, from Waterlooville Hants, was stuck on a plane at Heathrow for two-and-a-half hours. He said: 'The pilots are as frustrated as everyone else. It's better safe than sorry, you don't want to get up there and find that there's planes everywhere.' Airlines were furious at the latest embarrassing failure in operations — and one of Ryanair's bosses called for the resignation of Nats chief Martin Rolfe over the error. Neal McMahon insisted: 'It is outrageous passengers are once again being hit with delays and disruption due to Martin Rolfe's continued mismanagement of Nats.' 6 6 6 He went on: 'Yet another ATC system failure has resulted in the closure of UK airspace, meaning thousands of passengers' travel plans have been disrupted.' Referring to a previous flight failure under Mr Rolfe's leadership, Mr McMahon said it was clear 'no lessons have been learnt'. And he called on Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander to intervene. At 5.30pm Ms Alexander said: 'I have been informed systems have now been restored but continued disruption is expected, and passengers should check with individual airports for advice.' Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey said: 'It is utterly unacceptable that after a major disruption just two years ago, air traffic control has once again been hit by a technical fault. "The public deserve to have full confidence in such a vital piece of national infrastructure.' I would have liked to see my personal role play out differently. Heathrow boss Thomas Woldbye Nats said yesterday: 'Our engineers have now restored the system that was affected this afternoon. 'We are in the process of resuming normal operations in the London area. We continue to work closely with airline and airport customers to minimise disruption.' The outage meant several flights scheduled to arrive in the UK were forced to circle airports or divert elsewhere. British Airways said the problem 'was entirely outside of our control' and is 'affecting the vast majority of our flights'. A spokesman said: 'We want to apologise to our customers for any inconvenience and assure them that our teams are working hard to get their journeys back on track as quickly as possible.' A spokesman at Heathrow, the UK's busiest airport, said: 'Flights at Heathrow have resumed following a technical issue at the Nats Swanwick air traffic control centre. 'We are advising passengers to check with their airline before travelling. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.' BLUNDERS PLAUGING UK FLIGHTS By Thomas Godfrey THE glitch that led to dozens of flights being diverted yesterday is the latest in a string of failures which have beset travellers at Britain's airports. The most recent was the chaos caused by a substation fire which shut Heathrow for a day in March. Before that, another National Air Traffic Services glitch led to disruption for 700,000 paswhen flights were grounded on August 28, 2023. The system went down and the engineer who could fix it was working from home. That cost about £100million. In July 2019, some 50 flights were cancelled and dozens delayed for hours at London airports following an 'issue with radar displays'. A year earlier, an overhaul of the Nats system at Swanwick, Hants, led to repeated delays for flights bound for Heathrow and Gatwick over three weeks. The centre was also hit with high staff sickness rates in 2017, which caused delays throughout the summer. In 2014, Swanwick was knocked offline by a power failure, causing 84 flights from Heathrow and 19 from Gatwick to be cancelled. The centre's telephones cut out in 2013, and in 2008 another computer fault wrecked 88 planned flights. Gatwick confirmed technical issues caused a complete halt to departures while the situation was being resolved. After March's Heathrow fire chaos airport boss Thomas Woldbye — who slept through the decision to close the hub — admitted he had 'learnings' to take away. But he stopped short of apologising. The chief executive said: 'I would have liked to see my personal role play out differently.' He added: 'An organisation like ours has to be able to manage, whether the captain's on the bridge or not.' Energy regulator Ofgem has launched an official enforcement investigation after a report found the fire which caused the shutdown was due to a preventable technical fault at a substation. A probe by the National Grid found it was identified seven years ago. It discovered faulty fire safety equipment and moisture in electrical parts flagged in 2018 were not addressed, and maintenance at the North Hyde site was delayed again in 2022. The fire was caused by 'catastrophic failure' in a transformer, triggered by moisture entering electrical components. Heathrow said: 'A combination of outdated regulation, inadequate safety mechanisms and National Grid's failure to maintain infrastructure led to this catastrophic power outage.' Nats operates from Swanwick and Prestwick, near Glasgow. The £623million Swanwick centre — the size of nine football pitches — is responsible for controlling most of the airspace in England. Around 730 controllers, out of 1,100 total staff, control 200,000 square miles of airspace and other special military zones.
