Christmas Travel LIVE: Traffic chaos on M1 after vehicle fire while getaways hit by cancelled flights

• Heathrow: Running smoothly after Sunday’s weather-related cancellations – more than 100 flights were grounded, affecting 15,000 passengers. Inbound on Monday morning, British Airways from Johannesburg is six hours late due to a delayed departure from South Africa.
• Gatwick: Unlike Heathrow, there is no curfew at the Sussex airport – which was very busy overnight on Sunday into Monday, with many flights delayed by an hour or so. Worst delay was Tui from Barbados, arriving three hours behind schedule.
• Manchester: A similar picture to Gatwick: flights operating but delays overnight. Manchester was the starting point for the first passenger plane to land at Belfast City airport after the Northern Ireland airport reopened on Monday morning following the runway closure.
• Stansted: Unlike Sunday morning, the express rail link from London is running normally. Passengers on Ryanair from Tirana were expecting to arrive shortly after midnight, but instead landed three hours late. One notable arrival scheduled for Monday afternoon: a Titan Airways jet decorated as Santa’s Lapland, returning from Ivalo in Arctic Finland.
• Luton: Some disruption on Sunday evening, believed to be because of severe weather, saw an easyJet flight from Grenoble diverted to East Midlands. Other easyJet flights, including to Amsterdam and Glasgow, were about an hour late. On Monday morning, Ryanair has taken a couple of one-hour delays to Dublin and Knock in Ireland.

The part of the M1 that was closed due to a vehicle fire has now reopened.

The motorway was shut northbound between J22, near Leicester, and J23, near Loughborough, after a vehicle blaze.

National Highways said on Monday morning that drivers are still facing delays there of around 10 minutes.

Belfast City Airport’s runway is “operating at normal” after it was forced to close following an emergency incident.

A plane’s nose wheel collapsed as it landed in the airport amid adverse weather conditions on Sunday afternoon.

There were four crew on board and no passengers when the hard landing occurred.

The incident triggered emergency procedures at Belfast City Airport and forced the runway to close for the rest of the day.

Several flights were redirected.

Emerald Airlines, which was operating the flight, said the incident was a result of adverse weather conditions that has been disrupting travel across the UK.

On Monday morning, Belfast City Airport said normal operations were resuming.

In a statement, it said: “The runway at Belfast City Airport has now reopened and normal operations will resume today.

“Passengers impacted by yesterday’s runway closure or those due to travel today should check the status of their flight with the airline before making their way to the airport.”

Part of the M1 is closed because a van is on fire, with drivers facing huge delays.

National Highways said the M1 remains closed northbound between J22, near Leicester, and J23, near Loughborough, on Monday morning.

It added that emergency services including Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service continue to work at the scene where a van is on fire.

A diversion route is in place for motorists, although they are advised to allow for extra journey time amid delays, or even to postpone travel.

Pictures show long queues building up on that section of the motorway.

The Met Office has issued an ice warning for parts of the UK.

The yellow weather alert is in place across areas in northeast Scotland until 10am today.

Looking ahead to next week, conditions are expected to improve and the UK could see a “grey Christmas”, rather than a white one.

Met Office meteorologist Dan Stroud said: “We’re expecting to see some sunny spells further east and a lot of cloud from the west.

“Temperatures should rise considerably and it will be extremely mild over Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

“In England and Wales, temperatures will be well above average with some grey in the mix.

“We’re expecting an average of around 12C or 13C on Christmas Eve and 11C or 12C on Christmas Day. The usual average for this time of year is 7C or 8C so we’ll be around double where we usually are.

“Overnight temperatures in Scotland for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day will be extremely mild.”

Conditions are expected to improve this week after bad weather caused disruption during the Christmas getaway period.

The Met Office has forecast a “grey Christmas” with some sunny spells and “extremely mild” temperatures.

It comes after a “perfect storm” of adverse weather conditions and road congestion led to widespread disruption during the Christmas getaway.

George Best Belfast City airport has reopened after the runway was blocked by a stricken plane – but widespread disruption continues through Monday morning.

The drama began shortly after 4pm on Sunday afternoon when an Aer Lingus Regional ATR72 aircraft flew in from Edinburgh on a “positioning” flight to Belfast City. Four crew but no passengers were on board.

After a 40-minute flight the propellor plane made what the airline called a “hard landing” because of bad weather. The nose wheel collapsed, leaving the aircraft resting on its nose. No one was hurt, but the runway was blocked. Four incoming flights were diverted to Belfast International and two to Dublin, and dozens were cancelled.

The airport says: “Following an incident on 22 December, the runway at Belfast City Airport has reopened and is operating as normal.”

The runway is certainly open, with the first passenger flight from Manchester touching down at 7.15am, but operations are far from normal.

A British Airways flight that was due out at 5.25pm on Sunday but which was diverted to Dublin is now expected to leave at 9am.

The early departure on KLM to Amsterdam is cancelled because the aircraft could not reach Belfast City.

Many flights are delayed by several hours. The Emerald Airlines fleet of 10 aircraft has been reduced by one, while the aircraft is assessed and repaired, which will cause more cancellations.

Around 29.3 million Christmas journeys will take place between Wednesday and 24 December, the RAC has estimated, with nearly half taking place on the pre-Christmas weekend alone.

Surveying over 2,000 drivers, the motoring group has urged festive commuters when to avoid major routes over the coming days. On Friday, it’s best to stay off the roads for the five hours between 2pm and 7pm on Friday 20 December, with nearly three million trips planned across the day.

This jumps to a massive 3.72 million on Saturday, when drivers are urged to avoid the five hours between 1pm and 6pm and set off well before this “gridlock” period if they can.