As the majority of Europe faces its 5th day without air travel, the amount of disruption caused by the Eyjafjallajoekull volcano is becoming a huge problem for British citizens both at home and abroad. With the number of estimated passengers still trying to get back home approaching 150,000 according to ABTA European ferry and train services are being pushed to their absolute capacity, despite having additional services put on to try and cope with the extra demand.


The UK Government are currently sending 3 Royal Navy ships over to Spain and several other European ports to rescue Brits left stranded by the volcanic ash cloud lingering overhead. HMS Albion, HMS Ark Royal and HMS Ocean are currently being prepared to accept as many passengers as possible to bring them home. The decision was after the UK’s emergency committee, Cobra, discussed the various options available to get stranded Britons back home. One of the major plans still in discussion is using Madrid airport as a central transport hub for passengers who are waiting to fly to Europe from other continents, allowing passengers to then take trains or ferries back to the UK.

The latest news from the National Air Traffic Services is that UK airspace is likely to remain closed until 7.00am on Tuesday 20th April when flights from Scotland are set to start, this opening of the airspace will gradually shift further South throughout the day. However, this is not an absolute guarantee as the situation is extremely delicate and could change by the morning.

To give you an idea of the lengths that some people are going to to get home one Sixt customer has told of his trek across Europe to get to the UK, which you can read here in his blog entitled “How I beat Eyjafjallajökull with a Fiat Panda”.

For any travellers still stuck in Europe there are still several options of getting home, mainly via train or ferry, we have compiled a list of the major train and ferry companies for you to use:

Brittany Ferries: (currently running services from Santander, Cherbourg and Caen to Portsmouth)

Tel: 0871 244 0744
Web: Brittany Ferries

P & O Ferries: (currently running services from Bilbao and Calais)

Tel: 08716 645 645
Web: P & O Ferries

Eurostar Trains: (currently running increased number of services to cope with demand)

Tel: 08432 186 186
Web: Eurostar

Eurotunnel: (currently servicing passengers on a first come first served basis)

Tel: 08443 35 35 35
Web: Eurotunnel

Everyone at Sixt hopes that the situation is resolved as quickly as possible and that Europe can once again start to return to normality.

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