Past excuses for train delays such as 'leaves on the line' or 'the wrong kind of snow' have long since passed into urban legend as people lament the travel chaos in the UK caused by sudden bad weather.
In the recent cold snap, all those people who waited in the driving snow for buses that never arrived - or groaned on board a plane when the Captain apologised that it would be another hour before they could find a de-icing truck - must have wondered how we could have possibly been so unprepared for the blizzards. After all, the weather forecasters had been going on about the oncoming storm for at least a week. So why did the UK effectively grind to a halt? A colleague and I had been due to go to Europe for a meeting and, fortunately as Heathrow disappeared under a blanket of snow so su...
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