More flights delayed at Heathrow and Gatwick for a second day

Thanks for following along with our traffic and travel updates today. We’ll be back tomorrow with all the latest.

A signal fault at Richmond is affecting London Overground trains to and from this station.

Service has been suspended between Gunnersbury and Richmond. Kew Gardens and Richmond will not be served.

Services between Willesden Junction and Gunnersbury may be cancelled, revised or delayed by up to 30 minutes.

If you weren’t already washing your hands as soon as you got off the London Underground, this might convince you.

A Freedom of Information (FOI) request sent to TfL by Showers to You revealed the cleaning regime for each Tube line.

Trains receive a pre-service clean daily and then further cleans every three to four days which include cleaning of window ledges, windows and interior panels.

The trains then undergo a full interior and exterior clean.

The Piccadilly line is cleaned the least often, only receiving a full clean every 43 days.

The most frequently cleaned line is the Jubilee line, getting a full scrub every 18 days.

Here’s the full list of the Tube lines cleaned least to most often:

• Piccadilly – every 43 days
• S-Stock (Metropolitan, Hammersmith & City, Circle, and District lines) – every 28 days
• Central – every 27 days
• Bakerloo – every 25 days
• Northern – every 25 days
• Jubilee – every 18 days

Long-distance travel could look very different thanks to new ‘game-changing’ seats.

But they are not just your normal seats – they can be turned into a full bed but without the need for a cabin.

Future Travel Studio revealed its new DreamSuite reclining seat prototype, saying it could boost comfort for budget passengers on overnight sleeper services and long-distance daytime journeys.

The new DreamSuite will be a ‘middle-ground option’ for customers currently forced to choose between premium private cabins or regular train seats on long-distance journeys.

Future Travel Studio said they would offer 60% more capacity than sleeper cabins, meaning the savings could be passed on to passengers.

By using a mechanical system, the seat can be converted from an upright position to a flat bed measuring six feet and two inches.

As a cherry on top, it features a privacy screen offering flexibility for solo travellers and couples, plus space to hang clothes and store bags.

Designer Nik Lusardi, whose previous roles include creating Virgin Atlantic’s first-class seats between 2004 and 2016, said: ‘What we’ve been trying to do is democratise this kind of product on rails.

‘We want to make this attainable for everybody, not just business passengers and people who’ve got deep pockets.”

He said DreamSuite was a ‘game change’ as his experience of UK trains was that the seats are ‘all a bit hard, they get uncomfortable after about half-an-hour.’

The seat design meets UK rail safety standards – and they can be installed on existing carriages.

The DreamSuite was launched at train manufacturer Alstom’s factory today.

Traffic was stopped in both directions on the M62 between Leeds and Bradford due to a police incident.

The carriageway was closed from J26 (Chain Bar) to J27 (Gildersome).

Traffic was held for around ten minutes, an Inrix alert shows.

More flights have been listed as delayed at Heathrow Airport this afternoon.

It comes after a string of delays and some cancellations yesterday.

Here are the further delays today.

Delayed

Delta Air Lines DL033 at 1.55pm to Atlanta

Air India AI128 at 2pm to Mumbai

British Airways BA197 at 2.50pm to Houston

British Airways BA049 at 4pm to Seattle

British Airways BA1418 at 4.20pm

Cancelled

Virgin Atlantic VS141 at 1.20pm to Los Angeles

Have you been affected? Please email [email protected].

New research has revealed that young drivers receive a disproportionate number of dangerous driving endorsements.

UK drivers aged 17-25 are responsible for more than third (38%) of dangerous driving endorsements – despite making up just 7% of licence holders.

It comes after IAM RoadSmart, a road safety charity, analysed DVLA data.

It discovered that between the first six months this year, 1,128 endorsements – known as DD40s – were issued to young licence holders in the UK.

What is a DD40?

Drivers are slapped with the notice when their driving falls short of what is expected of a competent and careful motorist, or when it would be obvious to a competent driver that using a vehicle in its state would be dangerous.

This includes speeding, racing, driving aggressively, jumping red lights, dangerous overtaking or knowing a vehicle has a dangerous fault.

IAM RoadSmart director of policy and standards Nicholas Lyes said: ‘Something is going awry with driving standards among younger drivers when they now account for well over a third of all new dangerous driving endorsements, while at the same time making up a small proportion of overall licence holders.

‘A form of graduated driver licensing should now be considered as part of an updated road safety strategy.

‘We strongly believe that training, upskilling and wider experience will foster better responsibility and decision making which will make our roads safer.’

The M25 continues to have severe delays after a crash involving several vehicles and a motorbike this morning.

Four cars, three vans and a motorbike collided clockwise after junction J16 (M40), traffic analyst Inrix says.

It is causing long tailbacks to the M40 to J1 (Denham) and J2 (Beaconsfield).

Inrix said traffic has been stopped since just before 10am.

Diversions have been put in place and drivers should follow the hollow triangle signs via Denham and Maple Cross.

Points and signal failures have caused mayhem on the rail network and the London Underground this morning.

Another points failure has ground South Western Railway trains to a halt at London Waterloo.

Some lines are blocked which means trains could be cancelled, delayed up up to 25 minutes or revised.

The disruption is expected to last until 12 midday.

Trains to and from London Marylebone have been hit by severe delays after a fault with the signalling system.

This is affecting Chiltern Railways trains until about 10am.

Services could be axed, delayed by up to 60 minutes or revised.

Here are the affected routes.

• Between London Marylebone and High Wycombe / Aylesbury / Aylesbury Vale Parkway / Oxford / Banbury / Birmingham Moor Street / Stourbridge Junction

Passengers may be able to claim delay compensation from Chiltern Railways. Advise can be found here.

The earlier crash on the M25 between J16 and J17 in Buckinghamshire is now being treated as a serious collision.

As a result, three out of four lanes are closed and diversions have been put in place.

There are up to 90-minute delays clockwise.

Congestion is snarling back to junction J2 on the M40 and towards Heathrow Airport on the clockwise carriageway.

Travellers at Gatwick also face delays, but the airport hasn’t reported any cancellations so far today.

Here are the delayed flights according to the latest departure board information.

Delayed flights at Gatwick

EasyJet EZY225 at 9.25am to Chania

EasyJet EJU8527 at 9.35am to Oporto

TUI TOM036 at 10.50am to Montego Bay

British Airways BA2067 at 12.40pm to Accra

British Airways BA2203 at 1.25pm to Cancun

British Airways BA2794 at 1.50pm to Antalya

British Airways BA2702 at 2.15pm to Tenerife South

British Airways BA2748 at 2.20pm to Kos

British Airways BA2273 at 3.05pm to New York

Some Heathrow passengers have woken up to find their flight delayed this morning – and two British Airways flights have been cancelled.

It comes after a string of delays yesterday.

Here are the affected flights according to the airport departure board.

Cancelled

British Airways BA948 at 7.10am to Munich

British Airways BA185 at 11.10am to New York City

Delayed

British Airways BA844 at 8.20am to Dubrovnik

British Airways BA652 at 10.15am to Santorini

British Airways BA57 at 10.35am to Milan

American Airlines AA195 at 11am to Phoenix

British Airways BA644 at 11.10am to Kalamata

Virgin Atlantic VS019 at 11.45am to Virgin Atlantic

British Airways BA1412 at 12.05pm to Belfast

United Airlines UA919 at 12.15pm to Washington DC  

Virgin Atlantic VS105 at 12.14pm to Seattle

Drivers on the M25 in Buckinghamshire face delays after a crash closed two lanes.

The smash happened on the clockwise carriageway between junctions J16 and J17 at the Chalfont Viaduct near Gerrards Cross.

Traffic analyst Inrix warned of long delays and congestion to J15 (M4).

National Highways alert said there are 20 minute delays in the area.

The late finishing over engineering work is also affecting the Jubilee Line, with minor delays reported by Transport for London.

Transport for London has said there are severe delays between Highbury & Islington and Stratford.

This is due to a points failure at Stratford station.

There are severe delays on the Piccadilly Line between Hammersmith, Heathrow Airport and Uxbridge following the late finish of engineering work.

There are also minor delays between Acton Town and Cockfosters eastbound.