Other European transport systems can handle Christmas – why not ours?

For Brits, travel misery is as much a part of Christmas as mistletoe and Mariah Carey. Our Victorian rail network and overstretched airports simply cannot cope with the holiday season

Travel misery: it’s as much a part of Christmas as mistletoe and Mariah Carey. And this decade has been a classic. In 2010, you might recall, Heathrow was caught in a snowstorm. Though but a light dusting by Scandinavian standards, Europe’s busiest airport was effectively shut down for several days during the highest-pressure week of the winter.

Three years later, it was Gatwick’s turn to disappoint. On Christmas Eve 2013, the River Mole (hardly a waterway of Amazonian proportions) somehow leaked into the mains supply for the North Terminal, disabling the electronic systems. Hundreds of flights were cancelled or severely delayed. Several thousand passengers enjoyed 25 December not with their families, on the beach or ski slope, but in hotels in the Crawley area.

By 2016, The Independent headline read: “BA strikes – 40,000 journeys in jeopardy as cabin crew plan Christmas walkout.” The strike was ruled unlawful by the High Court – by which time it had already caused plenty of festive anxiety among travellers.