thank you very much, simon calder. you are watching bbc news. night across england not only was it the coldest night of the season, coldest night of the year, temperatures dropping down to —7.5 in north yorkshire. another cold day continues. still more snow to come across parts of upland scotland, turning to rain on lower levels, temperatures lifting a pet. —— a bit. could be a wintry element to the showers in western scotland, devon and cornwall. most of the uk will stay dry and bright, lingering fog patches where the winds are lightest in parts of east anglia and the south—east, but another chilly day. this evening and overnight, more wintry showers in northern scotland, rain and sleet in northern england in north and west wales, they will continue tomorrow morning. away from that, another frosty night and of course with wet ground and snow, icy conditions into the start of the new year. new year's day, a weather front straddling from northern england parts of the midlands, wales, southwest, cloudier st with a chance of further showers, snow o

simon calder is the travel editor of the independent. good morning, simon.eans that whatever applies to eu companies also applies to us. and in the context of coronavirus, there is basically a european union ban on arrivals from pretty much anywhere in the world, apart from a shortlist of countries which includes australia, new zealand, japan, thailand where they have extremely low rates of coronavirus. and the presumption is, unless anything changes from the 1st of january when we choose to become a third country outside the eu, because the transition phase, as you have discussing, will end. effectively, we get left out in the cold. however, important to say if you have got a holiday booked, don‘t panic yet. because individual countries are sovereign and they can decide if they want to let brits in all not. i have been in contact with the big countries we will be going to at this time of year, spain, portugal, italy, malta and cyprus, trying to find out what they will do. but there is no certainty yet. so individual countries can make their own decision so

let's get the details with simon calder, who is with me. ago the transport secretary, grant shapps, said, it is all right, you can all go to the ccanaries now, you can all go to the canaries now, that is fantastic news, because november, december, january, february, march, a wonderful destination, normally, millions of british people would be taking advantage of that, and many people did book trips, only to find, to their great dismay, that a couple of weeks before christmas, it has been put on the no—go list, at least in terms of quarantine, which means that people coming back from 4am tomorrow are going to have to quarantine for two weeks in england, scotland and northern ireland, ten days in wales. there is this test to release scheme coming into effect on tuesday which could reduce the time for people in england. but an absolute mess, not least because the foreign office, which normally says, "ok, don't go to the canaries, as soon as it has been put on the quarantine list," hasn't done that. and so, the biggest holiday company, tui, is

simon calder, travel editor for the independent newspaper, explains what that means for internationalvel. u nfortu nately, if unfortunately, if you are to travel imminently and you are one of the one third of the english population, about 18 million people, who are in this new area which is largely london, east of england and south—east england, you are not, from midnight, allowed to travel abroad. having said that, of course, if you have a pressing reason, if it is for work, for example, that will be able to go ahead and crucially if you live somewhere outside of this tierfour zone if you live somewhere outside of this tier four zone i believe you will still be able to travel into tier four in order to take a flight because of course three of the uk's three biggest apples are located within that area so, many millions of people, i estimate we are into the tens of thousands of people in the affected area due to travel in the next week before christmas it is an extremely stressful time. there is no certainty at this stage. i have contacted all the big holiday companies and big airlines

let's get a little more detail on those travel restrictions, with simon calder — travel correspondentretary said that extra british transport police will be deployed. i can tell him exclusively that i have just been to have a good look around waterloo station, normally the busiest station in britain — staff were easily outnumbering passengers there, people were not travelling at all. there is an awful lot of upset in the railway industry about the way that people were effectively given a window of maybe five or six hours and in particular for people leaving london on long—distance journeys. we have seen these extraordinary images of the chaos and confusion in places like london st pancras on the east midlands line to leicester, derby and nottingham and so on. unless a covid secure environment, it is difficult to imagine. and there'll be people in tiers i, 2 and 3 saying, hang on, we havejust been exported thousands of people coming from the most dangerous area and they are all very upset too. there will be british transport police at hubs. they will ensure safeguarding is the idea, bu

simon calder, travel editorfor the independent newspaper in london, explains what that means for internationalif you are booked to travel imminently and you are one of the one third of the english population, about 18 million people, who are in this new area, which is largely london, if you have been describing, these to england in south—east england, well, yes, you are not from midnight allowed to travel abroad. having said that, of course, if you have a pressing reason, if it is for work, for example, then that can go ahead. and, crucially, if you live somewhere outside this tearful zone, i believe that you will still be able to be able to travel into tier 4 able to be able to travel into tier iiin able to be able to travel into tier 4 in order to take a flight. heathrow, gatwick and stansted are located in that area. so, for many minutes of people, i estimate we are into the tens of thousands of people in the affected area who are due to travel in the next week before christmas, and that is an extremely stressful time. my prediction is as follows. if you are booked onto a package holiday to

let's speak to the travel editor at the independent simon calder who joins us live from outside waterlooit was a bit extra police officers would be on duty to make sure that only people with essential journeys duty to make sure that only people with essentialjourneys are travelling. i am afraid that that train has long departed, literally, from london st pancras to leicester, to derby, sheffield and leeds last night. extraordinary scenes, and people i talk to in the railway industry are very, very upset about it. they say it was an absolutely predictable response. for an awful lot of people, they were given about six hours notice to get onto a train ona six hours notice to get onto a train on a long haul trips that they had planned, perhaps for the next few days. from wednesday onwards, we are supposed to be in the christmas easing, so we saw thousands of people trying to leave london at once and all of the good work that had gone into place making sure that people had advanced tickets, they we re people had advanced tickets, they were socially distanced on board the train, that has all

who better to cast light on this than simon calder, a familiar face. cast light on this than simon caldermany will be thinking about their travel plans, one of the places we could go for christmas, which is now looking unlikely. the 22nd of october, everybody did because they are a great winter sta ple because they are a great winter staple and i genuinely thought you could plan a holiday for christmas, new year, into january, could plan a holiday for christmas, new year, intojanuary, february, and you would be pretty certain you would go. now it is on the no—go list with a little bit of uncertainty about the foreign office, and people waking up, what do we do about our trip? tui is likely to cancel the next few weeks. i understand that jet2 likely to cancel the next few weeks. i understand thatjet2 will do the same. many people have booked individualflights same. many people have booked individual flights and hotels and airlines are legally entitled to say the flight is still going, the fact you do not want to be on it is not our problem, and if you booked a hotel, the hotelier can say y

the independent‘s travel editor, simon calder, gave us more details about how the restrictions imposedies outright. others, well, greece hasjust introduced quarantine for people going there at christmas and new year, which effectively rules those countries out in terms of worthwhile destinations. but they can similarly, and, particularly, iwould imagine countries or regions such as the canary islands might do this, they may well say "ok, it's all right, we will make an exemption for brits." but there is no obligation to at the moment. and, of course, on top of all this, you have the uk rules, which basically say the entire, well, almost the rest of the world is a no—go area. we warn against all but essential travel to the vast majority of european countries, and your travel insurance will therefore be invalid. and on top of that, you have got to quarantine when you get back. whether that's for 14 days or, in scotland and northern ireland ten days in wales or as from next week, five days in the uk if you take a test. the headlines on bbc news... the european commission publishes conting

travel, and the man to a nswer regarding travel, and the man to answer some of our questions is a simon calderr, hugely popular? yes, and it is an absolutely bleak midwinter notjust for the hundreds of thousands of people who seven weeks ago when the canaries suddenly opened up thought, great, we want to book a winter holiday, but of course for the travel industry, which had pinned so many of its hopes on the idea that we would be able to go to tenerife, la nza rote, g ra n we would be able to go to tenerife, la nza rote, gran ca naria, we would be able to go to tenerife, lanzarote, gran canaria, and have our traditional winter holidays. as you say, the foreign office still hasn't changed its advice, and that is having some really odd effects. normally the foreign office says at the same time as the department of transport says you have got to quarantine, the foreign office says, it is too dangerous, we advise against travel, all holiday companies cancel their trips. but tui, the biggest holiday company, has told me this morning, their trips are going ahead, the foreign of his has not changed