| UK sees hottest day of year as bank holiday travellers face queues Posted by Chris from Nailsea at 17:58, 22nd May 2026 |     |
From the BBC:
UK sees hottest day of year as bank holiday travellers face queues
The UK is experiencing the hottest day of the year so far, with temperatures forecast to continue to climb above 30C over the bank holiday weekend.
Temperatures reached 28.4C at Heathrow in west London, Cranwell in Lincolnshire and Cambridge on Friday afternoon, the Met Office confirmed. The current May record is 32.8C.
Amber health alerts have been issued for parts of England as families attempt a half-term getaway.
Transport networks are expected to be busy over the bank holiday weekend. Passengers travelling to Europe from the Port of Dover earlier faced delays of several hours, due to the introduction of a new entry and exit system.
There have been warnings of potential congestion on roads to the port between Friday and Sunday, with some 18,000 cars expected to pass through.
(BBC article continues)
The UK is experiencing the hottest day of the year so far, with temperatures forecast to continue to climb above 30C over the bank holiday weekend.
Temperatures reached 28.4C at Heathrow in west London, Cranwell in Lincolnshire and Cambridge on Friday afternoon, the Met Office confirmed. The current May record is 32.8C.
Amber health alerts have been issued for parts of England as families attempt a half-term getaway.
Transport networks are expected to be busy over the bank holiday weekend. Passengers travelling to Europe from the Port of Dover earlier faced delays of several hours, due to the introduction of a new entry and exit system.
There have been warnings of potential congestion on roads to the port between Friday and Sunday, with some 18,000 cars expected to pass through.
(BBC article continues)
| Re: UK sees hottest day of year as bank holiday travellers face queues Posted by Chris from Nailsea at 21:46, 23rd May 2026 | |
An update, from the BBC:
Hottest day of year as 30.5C recorded and temperatures set to soar
Temperatures will continue to soar across the bank holiday weekend following the hottest day of the year so far on Saturday.
A high of 30.5C was recorded at Frittenden in Kent, beating Friday's maximum temperature of 28.4C at Heathrow in London, Cranwell in Lincolnshire and Cambridge.
The Met Office said it was very rare for the UK to record temperatures above 30C in May, with the last time being on 25 May 2012.
The heat is forecast to intensify throughout the long weekend, reaching heatwave criteria in a number of locations. Daytime highs are forecast to reach the upper 20s Celsius in many areas, with the low 30s Celsius likely in the week ahead.
Amber heat health alerts remain in effect for the Midlands, eastern and south-east England.
Amber alerts mean there is a risk of a significant impact across health and social care services, with children and those aged over 65 at risk of negative health implications.
The remainder of England is under yellow heat health alerts, meaning adverse weather is "likely to affect vulnerable groups".
(BBC article continues)
Temperatures will continue to soar across the bank holiday weekend following the hottest day of the year so far on Saturday.
A high of 30.5C was recorded at Frittenden in Kent, beating Friday's maximum temperature of 28.4C at Heathrow in London, Cranwell in Lincolnshire and Cambridge.
The Met Office said it was very rare for the UK to record temperatures above 30C in May, with the last time being on 25 May 2012.
The heat is forecast to intensify throughout the long weekend, reaching heatwave criteria in a number of locations. Daytime highs are forecast to reach the upper 20s Celsius in many areas, with the low 30s Celsius likely in the week ahead.
Amber heat health alerts remain in effect for the Midlands, eastern and south-east England.
Amber alerts mean there is a risk of a significant impact across health and social care services, with children and those aged over 65 at risk of negative health implications.
The remainder of England is under yellow heat health alerts, meaning adverse weather is "likely to affect vulnerable groups".
(BBC article continues)
Just in case you hadn't noticed.
| Re: UK sees hottest day of year as bank holiday travellers face queues Posted by Bob_Blakey at 07:47, 24th May 2026 | |
From the BBC:
.....Passengers travelling to Europe from the Port of Dover earlier faced delays of several hours, due to the introduction of a new entry and exit system.....
.....Passengers travelling to Europe from the Port of Dover earlier faced delays of several hours, due to the introduction of a new entry and exit system.....
Rather amusingly, at around 09:30 on Saturday due to the queues becoming unmanageable the French Border Police stopped using the EES and reverted to the good old stamping of passports. This has been confirmed by Simon Calder.
So it is not just our government that are crap at designing & implementing technology!
| Re: UK sees hottest day of year as bank holiday travellers face queues Posted by eXPassenger at 18:11, 24th May 2026 | |
From the BBC:
.....Passengers travelling to Europe from the Port of Dover earlier faced delays of several hours, due to the introduction of a new entry and exit system.....
.....Passengers travelling to Europe from the Port of Dover earlier faced delays of several hours, due to the introduction of a new entry and exit system.....
Rather amusingly, at around 09:30 on Saturday due to the queues becoming unmanageable the French Border Police stopped using the EES and reverted to the good old stamping of passports. This has been confirmed by Simon Calder.
So it is not just our government that are crap at designing & implementing technology!
The problem is worse than that. The overall requirement was designed by the EU to cover airports as that was the chief method of entry before Brexit. In airports passengers arrive at the desks on foot and can be fairly easily processed (I know there have been snafus in airports). Entry from the UK via Dover has families in cars in a confined space. The time to process a car load of passengers is longer that the same number of passengers at an airport. Dover has come up with a number of interesting solutions including processing coaches off sit and then sealing them for the journey to the ferry.
