A man pushes a toddler in his pram through the middle of a pavement fountain in Liverpool yesterday. Temperatures soared above 40 degrees in Spain and Portugal on Monday prompting health concerns and the scorching heat was expected to move north to France and Britain later in the week.
London Evening Standard/London
Thousands of London commuters faced delays yesterday evening as cancellations and heat restrictions were imposed on rail services.
As temperatures were expected to peak at 31C between 4pm and 6pm, six trains from Paddington to Henley or Bourne End were terminated early, adding 30 minutes to hundreds of people’s journeys. Many more services were hit by the heat restrictions, which started at midday, between Paddington and Ladbroke Grove.
MPs immediately demanded to know why the network could not cope with the heat.
Labour mayoral hopeful Sadiq Khan said: “Londoners have already suffered too much because of disruption on the train network. Network Rail needs to get a grip right now. It’s simply not good enough to delay trains because of the ‘wrong kind of heat’.”
Fellow Labour mayoral candidate Diane Abbott added: “When it snows, they say they cannot run trains. When there are leaves on the line, they stop the trains. Now it seems the wrong kind of heat means they have to slow people’s journeys down. I would have thought they would have worked out by now that sometimes in London it gets hot.”
Commuters coping with sweltering temperatures on buses and Tube trains took to social media to complain at the disruption. “Cannot believe hot weather results in trains cancelled or delayed — it’s not the 1st April is it? tweeted Richard Scott.
Duncan Heaney added: “Apparently really hot weather breaks Thameslink trains as effectively as rain. Stupid sun.”
Kins BeckiferAnne said: “Apparently in England if we have any weather, the trains won’t run.”
It came as health chiefs yesterday issued a heatwave warning with temperatures in London set to hit 33C.
The Met Office declared a “level two heat-health alert” as there was a risk that the conditions would have a significant impact on people’s health.
Public Health England advised people to keep out of the sun between 11am and 3pm and to pay particular attention to how babies and the frail elderly were affected by the heat.
Dr Yvonne Doyle, London regional director for Public Health England, said: “Older people, young children, and those with long-term illnesses are particularly vulnerable to the effects of very hot weather, so it’s important to look out for them by helping them to take plenty of cool drinks, for example.”
