'Do not travel' warning issued as Storm Pia hits the UK leaving families' Christmas at risk

A 'do not travel' warning has been issued in some parts of the UK as areas across Scotland and England continue to get battered by Storm Pia.

Anyone with plans to travel home for the holidays may need to rethink their plans after gusts of wind going at 80mph just days ahead of the festive occasion.

Weather warnings for high winds today (21 December) have been put in place which could potentially cause a whole load of travel chaos in the run-up to Christmas on Monday.

Winds between 70mph and 80mph have been forecast for northern Scotland, with up to 65-70mph on high ground.

Other areas of the country will also be feeling the gusts as other parts of Scotland, as well as Northern Ireland, North Wales and England north from Birmingham and the top half of East Anglia could see winds reaching speeds of a still pretty intense 45-55mph.

TransPennine Express (TPE) has warned commuters about the 'severe weather', telling customers: "Do not travel to and from Edinburgh on Thursday 21 December."

The train company added in an official X statement: "There is a yellow weather warning in place for Thursday 21 December, with strong winds expected in Scotland and England."

Its website continues: "Due to the forecast given, we’re advising customers to do not travel between the following routes on Thursday 21 December until after 15:00."

Services affected fall between Manchester, Liverpool, Preston to Carlisle and Edinburgh.

Storm Pia was named by Danish authorities, but it was not expected to be severe enough in the UK to warrant being officially named.

A Met Office spokesperson told Tyla: "Storm Pia was not named by us, it was named by the Danish Met Service as they will experience more notable impacts alongside the Netherlands and northern Germany and other parts of Northern Europe.

"The wind we have experienced as the low pressure passed to the North of the UK is now easing and the warning end time has been brought forward to 15:00 so although it will be breezy the Christmas getaway will not be impacted by the strong winds from this low pressure system."

And as for the question I'm sure we're all wondering - will we have a white Christmas this year?

Well, a spokesperson at the Met Office told Tyla: "Christmas Day will be rather mild for most of the UK, with rain in some parts of the south and the north."

They added: "It may be a technical white Christmas as we may see some snow falling over the highlands of Scotland, but we’re not forecasting any widespread snow."