London, December 23: Outraged travellers demanded that the British Transport Secretary Lord Adonis return from holiday today to tackle the UK’s travel nightmare.
As Britons continue to struggle with transport chaos caused by severe snow and ice, the government minister departed for a luxury Alpine skiing holiday in Austria.
Lord Adonis, 46, left his deputy Sadiq Khan to face the avalanche of fury over cancellations, delays and road-gritting havoc.
Opposition local government minister Bob Neill said, “With snow causing chaos across Britain it is alarming that the Secretary of State is on holiday abroad.
“He should head home to help resolve the crisis.”
A Department for Transport spokesman said, “Andrew Adonis is monitoring the impact of bad weather on transport extremely closely while on a short family break over Christmas.”
But motorists, train passengers and people hoping to fly abroad for the festive period lashed out at flimsy measures that have failed to keep routes open.
UK airports remained severely disrupted, particularly at Luton, Gatwick, Heathrow, Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Drivers throughout the country have slammed the lack of gritting trucks on the roads, with some local authorities claiming problems arose because they had the wrong type of grit.
It was revealed today that thousands of online shoppers may not receive their Christmas presents after snow crippled some deliveries.
The UK’s Royal Mail said it was doing “everything possible” to ensure the post arrived on time.
Meanwhile, the backlog of cross-Channel trips on Eurostar finally started to clear today after three days without any services, but carriages were virtually empty as many passengers had already made alternative travel arrangements.
—Agencies