An incredibly rare event

A a result of a volcanic eruption in Iceland and the resultant cloud of volcanic ash, planes across Britain are now largely grounded. Hugely frustrating for passengers, but an incredibly rare event thank goodness.

I am keeping closely in touch with officials and the Met Office to see how weather conditions develop and what we can do for passengers stranded by this highly unusual event. I welcome the fact that at least one train company has already made a special effort to help passengers travelling north to Scotland.
 
I am travelling this morning on the new high speed domestic services from King's Cross to Ebbsfleet which are of course unaffected.

My advice to journalists still waiting to hotfoot it to Manchester for tonight's leaders debates would be to jump aboard the excellent West Coast service which takes just 2 hours 8 minutes, thanks to the recent major upgrade. The proposed high speed line would of course reduce that to just 75 minutes.