- Title: VARIOUS: Snow causes transport chaos across Europe
- Date: 23rd December 2009
- Summary: FRANKFURT, GERMANY (DECEMBER 21, 2009) (REUTERS) PLANE FLYING OVER MOTORWAY VARIOUS OF BOARD AT FRANKFORT AIRPORT SHOWING DELAYED FLIGHTS VARIOUS OF PASSENGERS WAITING INSIDE AIRPORT (SOUNDBITE) (German) PASSENGER, STEFANIE KOBUCH, SAYING "My flight was cancelled due to bad weather. We were already on the run way and then they took us back out of the plane and said "you can go into the terminal and sleep there, there are beds there." However there were only 30 beds for 3000 people. No one looked out for pregnant people, older people or women with children. There were not enough beds. Many people just slept on the floor. And above all there was no Lufthansa customer support." (SOUNDBITE) (English) PASSENGER, KENSHI GUEVA, SAYING "Well I got delayed in Geneva and they told me to come here. It's been since the 19th so a couple of days yes." (SOUNDBITE) (English) PASSENGER, TINA MERHIN, SAYING: "I have been travelling for 48 hours to get home so you can guess that I am a little bit, but still I say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year for everyone. Be patient because they are doing there job as well as they can." VARIOUS OF PASSENGERS WAITING INSIDE AIRPORT
- Embargoed: 7th January 2010 12:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: Weather,Transport
- Reuters ID: LVA2JCKKW2PO19DJNUHTRLXUKWKS
- Story Text: Workers at the John Lewis store in High Wycombe woke up at work on Tuesday (December 22) morning, after heavy snows forced them to overnight on "for sale" beds on the shoproom floor.
Snow covered the whole of Britain from Scotland in the north to Reading in the southwest, where motorists got out of their stranded cars to help clear the road.
All three of the runways were back in operation at Frankfurt airport, Germany's largest, on Tuesday, after some three thousand passengers were left stranded overnight when snow and icy weather caused officials to close the airport for around four hours. Many flights were still being cancelled or delayed, however.
"My flight was cancelled due to bad weather. We were already on the run way and then they took us back out of the plane and said "you can go into the terminal and sleep there, there are beds there." However there were only 30 beds for 3000 people. No one looked out for pregnant people, older people or women with children. There were not enough beds. Many people just slept on the floor. And above all there was no Lufthansa customer support," complained one customer.
Traffic flowed regularly on Tuesday (December 22) in Milan after heavy snowstorms and freezing temperatures caused discomforts and closed airports and grounded trains, stranding thousands of commuters and holiday shoppers.
In Milan some 400 soldiers worked through the night to clear the northern Italian city's streets of ice and snow, but elsewhere in the country many motorways remained closed because of ice and snow.
Schools in Milan remained closed as another 400 soldiers were expected to be deployed to assist with the clearing operations.
Delays were reported in train transport to and from the north-western port city of Genoa, while ice and snowfalls forced the closure of the main motorways in the north-eastern Emilia-Romagna region.
Weather forecasts however, indicated an increase in temperatures after the cold snap which began over the weekend. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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