East Midlands travel disruption continues after heatwave

Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service said it was still "extremely busy" with calls

Transport continues to be disrupted across the East Midlands following two days of record high temperatures.

In Nottinghamshire temperatures peaked at 40.1C on Tuesday with East Midlands Railway cancelling almost all of its services to and from London.

It said some services would resume this morning but warned there would be some changes to the timetable.

Nottingham's tram network is also still recovering from the extreme heat that put a number of trams out of action.

Records were broken across the East Midlands on Tuesday with all counties recording a new top temperature.

In Nottinghamshire the new record of 40.1C was set in Gringley on the Hill.

Derbyshire recorded a top temperature of 39C in Coton-in-the-Elms and in Leicestershire it reached 38.3C in Market Bosworth.

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Temperatures have since cooled but the Met Office has issued a yellow warning for thunderstorms across the East Midlands.

It has warned this could lead to heavy rain and flooding.

Travel disruption

East Midlands Railway resumed services on its Intercity route between Nottingham and London St Pancras at 10:00 BST.

On Tuesday most of these trains started and terminated at Leicester due to concerns about the temperature of the track.

An hourly service has also begun running between Sheffield and Leicester.

Nottingham's trams saw "significant delays" on Wednesday morning after a tram broke down, stopping services in the city centre, however this has now been cleared.

NET said repair work on the heatwave-damaged trams was continuing today.

A number of trams needed repairing after the hot weather

Roads in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire were treated with "dust" after some surfaces melted on Monday and Tuesday.

Derbyshire County Council said it received reports of 12 roads melting, including the A617 Hasland bypass and Chatsworth Road in Chesterfield.

Fires

Firefighters across the East Midlands experienced a "hell of a day" on Tuesday with a number of major blazes to control.

Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service said it had recovered after declaring a major incident due to high demand.

It said: "We are now standing down from a major incident.

"We have sufficient level of resources back in the organisation to respond business as usual."

A grass fire off Bradgate Hill, Groby, was one of numerous calls the service responded to.

Five pumps and a water carrier were sent to the grass fire off Bradgate Hill, Groby

Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service said it also dealt with an exceptional amount of incidents around the county on Tuesday, including a large fire in Blidworth with 15 crews attending.

It said this fire was now under control and crews were extinguishing any hotspots that had appeared.

Despite this, the service said it was still "extremely busy" at the moment and has reminded those in the county to only call 999 in an emergency.

About 75 firefighters were deployed to the scene in Blidworth

Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service said it saw a 312% increase in emergency calls between Monday and Tuesday afternoon.

On Monday the service attended 29 fires - the second highest daily total over the past decade.

It said 23 of these were fires in the open.

On Tuesday the demand continued, with 12 fires in the open including one near Ladybower Reservoir in the Peak District.

The service sent six fire engines to deal with a forest and moorland blaze at Win Hill Edge, Bamford.

It said: "Temperatures may be falling but it's still hot and everywhere is still tinder dry.

"Please help us with a common sense approach to fire safety - no BBQs in open spaces, no garden fires, dispose of cigarettes responsibly, don't leave glass bottles lying around."