This time last year, I posted an article on this blog regarding the chaos that the snow had brought to the UK and here we are again, one year on, with the same chaos being felt across the country.

Speaking from experience as I write this article, I attempted to leave for the office at 6am this morning but with no joy. Having spent nearly six hours on the M1 on Saturday trying to get back from Luton airport after my flight was ‘suspended until further notice’, could I have done any more to get in to work this morning?

Probably yes. I could have walked over a mile to the nearest tube station, travelled in to the city to get an overground train and then on to work but at what point do we heed the advice all over the media to only travel when absolutely necessary?

On Saturday, I did everything I could before setting off to the airport. First off, I checked outside the window; no more snow from the day before so it looked good to go. I checked the weather situation on my route up to Luton airport and then at Glasgow, my final destination – all looked good. I checked the status of my flight which was going ahead as scheduled so I made the decision to set off as there didn’t appear to be anything that could cause that much of a problem. How wrong was I?

I got to the airport in good time, went through a very long queue at security and waited in the departure lounge until my flight was called. I stood in the queue at the boarding gate and watched as ice was removed from the wings of our plane. To cut a long story short, the following are the key points from the rest of my day:
• Announcement: the runway has been closed for de-icing but should be open again within 20 minutes
• Announcement: there is no cabin crew for our flight but they should be arriving shortly
• Announcement: the cabin crew have arrived from a flight from Hamburg and are on their way to the plane
• The plane was then removed from the apron
• The cabin crew arrive and board a replacement plane
• The pilot, co-pilot and the cabin crew are all on board the plane (by this point we are already one hour past our scheduled departure time)
• Announcement: all flights have been suspended until further notice
• I decide to abort my journey. I was only supposed to be in Glasgow for 24 hours for a family Christmas party which was due to start at 4pm so any more delays and it would not be worth my going at all
• Having never tried to leave an airport without actually boarding a plane, this was my next challenge as apparently they don’t just let you leave. I queued for 20 minutes to request to leave the airport. Got directed to the furthest boarding gate and queued again just to get released from Luton airport
• Made my way through a blizzard to the taxi rank and jump inside
• Heading away from the airport, I am disappointed not to get to see the family and miss the party but glad to be on my way home
• Sit on the M1 for nearly six hours, three of which without moving at all
• Chaos ensues as not only are drivers using the hard shoulder, some eventually start to use the bank to the left of the hard shoulder! Therefore the two lorries that have jack-knifed a few miles ahead cannot be moved as the emergency and recovery vehicles cannot get to them to get them moved
• I eventually arrive home over 12 hours since my day began and have the added bonus of paying a rather large cab fare on top of the cabs I had already booked and paid for and the flights that I never got to take
• Cold, tired and very hungry, it was a relief to finally make it home in one piece
• Not surprisingly, it was impossible to get through to the airline to even attempt getting a refund for the flights so overall my purse is over £300 lighter for a trip that I didn’t get to make

So what did I learn from this experience? If you hear the warning ‘do not travel unless absolutely necessary’ – don’t travel unless absolutely necessary! Even if the situation looks OK, you never know what is going to happen further down the line.

So, I’m sorry that I didn’t make it in to the office today (and will also miss our department’s Christmas party tonight), but my recent trip to Luton airport has made me even more cautious than I was before about travelling in snow.

Image: The Tim