Christmas Travel LIVE: Traffic chaos as M1 shuts due to vehicle fire

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.

People joining the Christmas getaway this weekend are being warned of heavy rain and winds of up to 80mph that are likely to cause travel disruption.

And it did not start well for many on Friday with hold-ups on many of the country’s main routes. They included motorists on the M5 who were stuck in 90-minute queues after hay bales on the back of a lorry caught fire near Exeter.

The incident closed two of four southbound lanes between J30 for Exeter and J31 for Shillingford Abbot and came at the same time there were queues caused by a crash on the M4 near Bristol and congestion around Dartford Bridge on the M25.

Britons hoping for a white Christmas are set to be sorely disappointed with a mild and grey 25 December, forecasters have predicted.

However, the day is likely to be settled, cloudy and dry with light winds for most of the UK, according to the forecaster.

Belfast City Airport was forced to enact emergency procedures on Sunday after a plane’s nose wheel collapsed upon landing in adverse weather conditions. There were no reported injuries.

There were four crew and no passengers on board the Emerald Airlines flight when the hard landing occurred at around 4pm on Sunday afternoon, as winds of up to 82mph battered parts of the UK.

The incident caused the runway to be closed for the rest of the day, after what the airport said had been the busiest day of the year so far on Friday, and several flights were diverted to Belfast International Airport on Sunday evening.

It came as weather warnings were in force across the UK, save for eastern parts of England, causing ferries, trains and flights to be cancelled in a blow to passengers travelling to spend Christmas with their loved ones.