High winds likely add to Christmas Eve travel disruption

Paddington station in London was deserted today as a result of engineering works

High winds have led to warnings of road and rail disruption in parts of the UK on Christmas Eve.

While Sunday has been unseasonably mild for many, forecasters also spoke of strong gusts in Scotland, parts of northern England and the Midlands.

The AA warned of "lengthy" traffic jams, and told people to prepare for longer journeys.

Met Office yellow weather warnings are in place for parts of the UK.

Rail disruption is anticipated in some areas - due to weather-related cancellations as well as major engineering works at Paddington and King's Cross stations in London.

A number of train operators were also expecting crew shortages due to sickness, which could lead to the cancellation of trains, National Rail said.

Sunday morning saw a mild start to Christmas Eve, with the Met Office later declaring it the warmest 24 December since 1997.

There had been speculation it could be the warmest day-before-Christmas ever. Although temperatures near Heathrow in west London reached 15.3C, the threshold was not quite met.

The warmest 24 December on record was in 1931, when 15.5C was recorded in Aberdeen and Banff in Scotland.

Despite unseasonably mild conditions, the unsettled weather could still disrupt any remaining pre-Christmas travel plans.

A yellow weather warning for wind stretching down eastern England from the Scottish border to the Midlands is in place until 22:00 GMT.

A separate wind warning covers most of Scotland until midnight.

The Met Office has said people in those areas should expect travel disruption, damage to buildings and power cuts, while the rest of the country could see showers.

Heavy rain is expected in northern and central Wales until early evening.

The Severn Bridge in Gloucestershire was closed in both directions on Sunday afternoon due to strong winds. The Humber Bridge in East Yorkshire was also closed to high-sided vehicles.

The RAC has advised motorists to travel before 11:00 or after 18:00 if possible to reduce the chances of being stuck in long queues.

Edmund King, from the AA, said people should expect delays, and urged people to prepare supplies including food and jackets.

"Check your tyre pressure, check your oil, check your windscreen washer fluid," he said.

The expected rail disruption across the UK included:

• From Sunday, London's Paddington Station is closed for four days, while there will also be no long-distance train services from King's Cross

• West Midlands Railway and London Northwestern Railway said they were expecting disruption due to "the combined impact of a surge in sickness absence, associated shortage of train crew and the impact of the recent storms across our network"

• ScotRail said weather-related disruption to some routes was expected until the end of Sunday

• Northern said it was operating reduced services across the north-west "due to traincrew unavailability", adding it was expecting "significant" disruption

• Chiltern Railways advised passengers to travel as early as possible and to anticipate some cancellations and alterations due to a "shortage of available train crew"

• The East Coast Main Line was expected to be disrupted between Newcastle and Edinburgh until 16:00 GMT due to damage to overhead electric wires

There have already been travel delays this week, with strikes in France causing cancellations on the Eurostar and Storm Pia also leading to disruption.

Meanwhile, an expected increase in the number of people shopping this Christmas has been recorded, with retail analysts MRI forecasting a 5% rise in shops across the UK. The figures were compared to the same time, up until 12:00, last Sunday.

Retail parks and shopping centres have seen the most dramatic increase in shoppers - 21% and 17% respectively. MRI suggested this was due to people "making the most of large car parks and multiple stores in one location" while making their last purchases before Christmas Day.