23/12/2016 Midlands Today


23/12/2016

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It's been dubbed Frantic Friday as people hit the roads,

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railways and airports to visit family and friends for Christmas.

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And with the addition of last minute shoppers,

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the AA were predicting around 12 million cars on the roads

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But, as well as congestion, Storm Barbara also made herself felt

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with strong winds causing significant problems.

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Who would fancy driving from Stoke-on-Trent to

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Many in Staffordshire chose to let the train

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I'm going on the way to Hastings to see my

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I haven't seen them since last Christmas.

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At Birmingham station, they're expecting 200,000 people to

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The advice for anyone travelling on the train

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over this period is, plan your journey well in advance and

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secondly, on the day of travel, please check before you travel.

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There are no train services on Christmas Day itself.

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Network Rail say disruption will be minimal over

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the holiday but they are warning that on the 27th, services between

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Rugby and Stafford will be affected by work on the West Coast Mainline.

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National Express have put on an extra 60,000

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seats to cope with the

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festive influx and Christmas Day is no exception.

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We have nine services leaving from here on Christmas Day.

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We have staff here to support customers and our drivers as well.

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We're going to destinations as far away as

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Glasgow, Edinburgh, Heathrow Airport, London Victoria

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and Bristol and a number of

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For those driving themselves, good news

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over 100 works have been lifted across the Midlands but by

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mid-morning, the partial closure of the M1 due to a serious accident

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Fortunately, traffic levels have been much

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lighter than usual and we'd like

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to thank motorists for the help in making this getaway much, much more

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Britain's wintry weather is of no consequence if you are jetting off

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Birmingham Airport reports a 20% increase in festive

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flyers and on Christmas Day itself, there will be 14,000 passengers in

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and out of Birmingham, up an incredible 82% on last year.

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We've been going for the last 15 years,

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we've just gone away for Christmas and New Year, probably because of

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our jobs, it's the best time to have off.

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Christmas is the time to go to these countries, nice

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weather, nice beaches, nice people, what can you say?

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And for the very latest on both the travel and the aftermath

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of Storm Barbara we can join Louisa Currie.

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A number of trains have been delayed due to high winds

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Public transport on the whole has been very busy.

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The roads seems to be fairing well on the whole -

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although winds have brought down a number of trees.

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One family in Northdfield in Birmingham had a lucky escape

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after this one came down in front of them.

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There was also quite a serious accident on the M5 earlier -

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but thankfully no serious casualties there either.

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Things are widely expected to calm down now, although another spike

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in travel is expected on Boxing Day morning as people head to the sales.

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But, while others may have struggled to get away,

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there was some good news in Coventry with work on the notorious

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There's been absolute gridlock there on occasions,

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whilst the junction's been completely re-designed.

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It's taken major excavation work, spanning three years,

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and costing more than ?100 million to redesign, Tollbar Island.

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There have been endless queues and much frustration.

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It took me over an hour to get up the road last night.

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But at last apart from one lane restriction,

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Driving through Tollbar during the height of the roadworks

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could have taken you hours but now, thanks to the new underpass,

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The project also took six months longer than expected

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because the wrong concrete was used on new bridges and had

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It was too much for Lisa Crankshaw from Hinckley who used to travel

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through the junction on the way to work.

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Getting back in time for her daughter became almost impossible.

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Some days I was the last parent to pick their child up and it was just

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getting so stressful that I just had to,

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you know, rethink everything and

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I decided that I was going to leave my job.

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But at the Midlands Air Museum, which became stranded

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on the wrong side of the roadworks, they're optimistic.

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The last three years have been horrendous for us, both fast getting

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in and for the customers getting air, but it is something that we

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have had to deal with and thankfully hopefully we are now in a situation

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The lane restrictions are due to be removed any time and then

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the junction will be fully functioning in time

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Finally, a woman from Gloucestershire who dreamed

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of owning her own reindeer is spending her first

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Karen Perrins, has been taking Dancer and Blitzen on visits around

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the county to get everyone in the Christmas spirit.

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They've been to schools, nursing homes and even

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Gloucestershire Police's Christmas Community event.

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Well, that's it from me - I think a white Christmas

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is probably off the cards, but from all of us on the late team,

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have a very Merry Christmas - here's Rebecca.

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It certainly was a wet and windy day today. The storm clouds gathered

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ahead of Stormont Barbara plumbing and from the West. That is now

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starting to clear away. We still have a keen reader as we head into

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Christmas Eve and we will keep that wind as we head through the weekend.

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Tonight it is calmer out there. We do still keep the breeze so we

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should stay frost free. Our temperatures are going to range

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between two and four selfies. We start tomorrow with dry and bright

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spells. A little bit of rain working its way down from the north and west

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but plenty of bright spells around that. There will be a keen breeze as

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well but not quite as strong as today. Temperatures between eight

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and nine Celsius. This mistake itself, milder but we do have rain

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to come and there is a chance we could see temperatures into high

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double figures. big day? Christmas Day. It will stay

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mild and temperatures could reach 14, 15. He is down bet that the

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national picture. It will be more northern parts of

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the UK that see the worst of the weather. Another storm is developing

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in the Atlantic. This will

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