24/12/2013 BBC News

Severe disruption across parts of the UK, as bad weather sweeps north.

Over 180 flood warnings are in place, as thousands are left without

power. Train travellers face cancellations

and delays, as many struggle to get home for Christmas.

The train got stuck in the middle of the night, it hit a tree. We have

been stuck here all night until 1am. Also in the programme: Millions of

patients are waiting a week or more for an appointment, according to the

Royal College of GPs. And, Australian cricket fans

celebrate an early Christmas, as England pledge to up their game for

the fourth Test. Good afternoon.

Bad weather has caused severe disruption across parts of the UK.

150,000 homes are without power in southern England, and there are 154

flood warnings across England and Wales. Many rail services have been

suspended or delayed, and ferries between Scotland and Northern

Ireland have been cancelled. Our correspondent Jon Kay has the

latest. Christmas plans have been turned

upside down. This is Red Hill aerodrome in Surrey this morning. In

nearby Brock, it is hard to see how this Christmas -- restaurant will be

serving Christmas dinner. The same story at this hotel in Bath. The

hotels are set for 50 guests, but the Packers will not get pulled.

From Cornwall to Kent, a second night of storms has left roads

blocked and rivers swollen. In the Somerset, this lady found her car

flooded after leaving it close to a river overnight.

Near Taunton, a chain hit debris on the track leaving hundreds of

passengers stuck on board that eight hours, leading to a mixture of

exhaustion and disbelief. It has been horrible. Nightmare

before Christmas! Network rail said the damage has

been worse than the storm two months ago. This landslip meant the

suspension of the Gatwick express service. The line between content

and Asda is completely blocked. There have been some nightmare

stories, chain companies said they were prepared and have been able to

put alternative arrangements in place. They are helped by the fact

Christmas is midweek, so generally journeys have been staggered across

several days. A very taking hundreds of passengers to Spain had to anchor

off the coast of Brittany four hours after hitting rough seas. We should

have been in Bill Bauer by now. It was incredibly bad weather.

Passengers were airlifted from the ferry who were injured during the

bad weather. Trees have brought down power lines

in many areas. Emergency engineering teams have been deployed across

southern England to restore electricity to 150,000 homes.

Gatwick Airport has also been a victim of a power outage leading to

long delays. So much forgetting away from wet and windy this Christmas.

Ben Geoghegan is at Waterloo station in central London for us now. What

are the rail companies saying? The situation here is a handful of

chains have been able to lead this station heading south over the

morning, or their national rail say they expect things to improve in the

afternoon, and as we heard, they have been struck by the strength of

this storm, worse than the storm a few weeks ago. They have had to deal

with heavy wind, landslips, and it has made it difficult for

engineering teams to travel around to carry out repairs and clear the

tracks of debris. They say those tracks are mostly clear, and they

are hoping to run an hourly service out of this station on all of the

routes that are open. They say people should turn up early, to

stand a good chance of getting onto a train. They say they hope services

to be around, but at least people will get home if they come to the

station this afternoon. The storm is now heading to

Scotland. A few moments ago, James Cook gave us the latest.

You can see here from the height of the seas, and obviously you can hear

the wind as well, why there have been so many problems for travel in

Scotland so far today. A number of ferries were cancelled, particularly

affecting those ferries travelling between the western isles, Northern

Isles and across to Northern Ireland. Problems for Christmas

travel. Some people are not going to get home for Christmas. There is a

worry that this weather will get worse, it is worth further north and

west. The concern is that it will strengthen over the next few hours,

and that could mean a threat to power lines, perhaps causing power

cuts overnight, into Christmas Day. So, another stormy day. Concerns

about flooding, particularly in the Borders. And blizzards elsewhere in

Scotland. So, the big storm, and warnings to people not to travel

unless they really have too. Millions of patients in England are

having to wait a week or more for an appointment at their GP's surgery,

according to the Royal College of GPs. It says its members expect

waiting times for appointments to get worse next year. Our health

correspondent Jane Dreaper has more details.

Patients value being able to see their GP quickly. But the latest

figures suggest this is getting harder in some practices. And the

Royal College of GPs said family doctors expect the situation to get

worse next year. GP leaders have looked at the results from a large

official survey of patients in England. Most patients said they had

a good experience in making their appointment, but there was a slight

rise up to 15% in patients who had to wake -- wait a week or more for

an appointment. The Royal College says this represents a problem for

millions of people in England. We are worried the situation will

get worse, because we have had three years of falling funding for general

practice. And we haven't got a lot more GPs in the pipeline. We are

training three or four hospital doctors for every GP we are training

at the moment. That balance isn't right. Labour are calling for the

return of a target guaranteeing a GP appointment within 48 hours. They

say this would help patients. If it is for a normal consultation, it can

take up to a week. Not too bad actually, probably I can have the

next day if urgent. GP 's sake the growing and elderly population is

keeping them busy. The government wants more consultations over the

phone so fewer patients have to go to the waiting room. The government

says it is already recognising the need to increase the numbers of GPs

and is finding extra training places. Ministers point out the

survey shows most patients are happy with their family doctor.

Over 200 people are reported to have been shot by security forces in

South Sudan, after more than a week of fighting in the capital, Juba.

This comes ahead of a vote later today by the UN Security Council on

almost doubling the peace-keeping force in the country. 45,000

civilians have sought UN protection from the fighting between tribes

linked to the president and his former deputy.

The authorities in Russia have dropped criminal charges against the

first of 30 people, including six from the UK, accused of taking part

in a Greenpeace protest at an offshore oil rig in the Arctic. The

campaign group said one man had been told his case was now closed, and

the others were expected to receive notice soon.

A posthumous royal pardon has been given to Alan Turing, regarded as

the father of computer science. Dr Turing was a senior code breaker

during the Second World War. He worked at the famous Bletchley Park

in Bedfordshire. But, in 1952, he was convicted of homosexual

activity. Today's pardon follows a long campaign.

Cricket. And England have pledged to up their game ahead of the fourth

Test against Australia in Melbourne on Boxing Day. Batsman Kevin

Pietersen has been speaking about the team's troubles on what's turned

out to be a disastrous tour in Australia so far. Our chief sports

correspondent Dan Roan sent this report.

You know things are going well when even Santa is on your side. For

Australian cricket fans, Christmas is early, gifted the Ashes by an

England team who have given their fans little to feel festive about.

We want to turn things around, we owe it to ourselves and the people

who have paid a lot of money to support us. We have let a lot of

people down. We now need to turn ourselves on and starts today.

Boycott says you are a mug and you should be dropped, how do you

respond? I have the greatest admiration for Geoffrey Boycott. But

the way he played and the way I play are totally different. It is the

Barmy Army rather than wise men who have made their pilgrimage to

Melbourne. Somehow, they remain faithful. How painful has it been?

It has not been great, we have been gutted. But, we are here to turn

things around. A dead rubber but we are here for the cricket. We will

show them we have got something left. England are having to prepare

for the fourth Test without the man who was their best spinner. Graeme

Swann has pity -- retired mid series. His parting shot was to

accuse certain unnamed players of arrogance. He denied suggestions it

was aimed at former team-mate Kevin Pietersen, but the batsmen doesn't

seem convinced. Was he referring to you?

You should come to field with me on Friday and see what I get called on

the boundary, there are a lot worse things. In the middle, the batsmen

have struggled with Australian barrage all talk, let's hope this

guy has more success with his deliveries.

-- all tour. You can see more on all of today's

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