Airport passengers stranded as Storm Bert hits

Heavy snow from Storm Bert has stranded passengers at an airport in north-east England.

Flights from Newcastle have been delayed by several hours with some arrivals diverted to Edinburgh and Belfast or cancelled.

The airport said staff had worked hard to keep disruption to a minimum following "continuous" snowfall through the morning and that the runway had been cleared by about 12:00 GMT.

The storm has seen snow, heavy rain and strong winds cause travel disruption on roads and railways across the country.

Richard Green, of Wallsend, North Tyneside, is among those whose departures from Newcastle have been affected.

He had been due to fly with Ryanair to Krakow in Poland shortly after 09:00 GMT, but is facing a delay of at least six hours.

Mr Green told the BBC: "I suppose I'm just resigned to it really.

"You can't help the weather, though it does seem like this took the airport by surprise, as much as they said they were prepared.

"Ryanair have offered a £3 refreshment voucher, which as you can imagine isn't going to get you very far."

An airport spokesperson said: "Due to Storm Bert there has been some disruption to flights this morning.

"The Krakow flight delay was announced via Tannoy in the terminal.

"Boarding cards were automatically updated with vouchers and the disruption desk was available to handle all passenger queries.

"Our hardworking snow team has cleared the runway and the airport is working as normal."

Passengers have been advised to visit the airport website for the latest flight information and to contact their airline if they have further questions.

National Highways has issued a severe weather alert for snow on roads in the North East and warned of blizzard conditions.

It said snow was set to "accumulate quickly at all levels".

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