Travel agencies in Wales and southern England were forced to close their doors today as Storm Eunice caused transport disruption and chaos across the UK.
The Met Office issued a rare red warning – its highest level – covering London, the southeast and parts of eastern England in addition to an existing red alert for South Wales and the north coast of western England, prompting the cancellation of more than 400 flights.
A spokesperson for Hays Travel said a number of branches in Wales and southern England were closed “taking into account safety of staff and customers which is, of course, paramount”.
Tui said 42 of its shops were ‘partially impacted’ while four were unable to open all day.
Record wind speeds of more than 120 miles per hour were recorded on the Isle of Wight but agents on the island were undeterred.
Barrhead Travel in Newport, Isle of Wight, said all four members of staff were in the shop, but taking most enquiries on the phone as the town was very quiet.
Hays Travel in Rythe on the island is also open but very quiet, apart from a couple of visitors for the bureau de change.
Miles Morgan Travel, which has 20 branches in the southwest of England and Wales, had closed its stores until 11am.
However, staff were able to take phone calls for every shop and agents opened affected branches later in the morning.
More: Updated: Flight and travel chaos as Storm Eunice hits UK
Fred Olsen Travel kept all its shops along the south coast and across East Anglia open, but expects to close some earlier than normal to allow staff to travel home in daylight.
Paul Hardwick, head of commercial at Fred Olsen Travel, said: “We definitely haven’t got our brochure bins or A2 swing signs out. A couple of the shops on the south coast have had power cuts, but only intermittently.
“Footfall is quiet as customers have taken news advice and stayed home – but we have still been pretty busy over the phone.
“I think it will be our quietest day of the week sales-wise, but hopefully that means we are in for a ‘Super Saturday’ tomorrow.”
Premier Travel opened all 24 branches in East Anglia and southern England and is monitoring the situation to see if any need to close early.
Director Paul Waters said the chain’s emergency group of managers held a call early this morning to check if staff were safe to travel to branches.
He said one branch had periodic problems with power cuts but explained the branches work in clusters so calls could be diverted to other stores.
Premier’s agencies have also been dealing with customers whose travel arrangements have been affected by cancellations or diversions.
All Kuoni stores opened today apart from one branch in a John Lewis store in Cardiff, which was expected to re-open later.
Newells Travel opened its 10 branches across Cornwall and Devon but reported few customers visiting in person and taking most enquiries and bookings by phone.
Phil Evans, founder of Swansea-based cruise specialist Cruise Nation, said: “We took the decision to operate all call centre-based departments from home today, as we did during the pandemic.”
Operators have also been affected but said the impact has been minimised because many staff are now used to working from home.
Several Latin Routes staff were facing problems with cuts to their power and internet connections.
Diretor Martin Johnson said: “There are some delays in responding to queries and getting quotes out, and we’re asking our agent partners to be understanding on this, which they have been.
“We will be working over the weekend to play catch-up if necessary, but provided the storm is only today we expect to be fully back up to speed by Monday or Tuesday at the latest.
“We have got some clients due to depart today and tomorrow with flight delays, but again our team are assisting clients where necessary to ensure they can still travel.”
Transport secretary Grant Shapps tweeted in the afternoon about the disruption saying ferry services were suspended from Dover and airports in London and Bristol were seeing high numbers of failed landing attempts.
Latest on disruption from #StormEunice:
National DO NOT TRAVEL across rail network
Tracks blocked across the South, services cancelled and some routes suspended
Ferry services suspended from Dover
London airports & Bristol seeing high numbers of failed landing attempts— Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP (@grantshapps) February 18, 2022
Picture of Storm Eunice at Porthcawl lighthouse, south Wales, by Leighton Collins/Shutterstock