Snow joke as UK transport sites downed

Snow joke
Snow joke

The heavy snow in the UK has left transport websites incapable of coping with the demands of thousands of people looking for the latest travel information.

The National Rail Enquiries website, as well as major train companies' and the Transport For London sites were so overloaded with requests that they have ploughed to a halt.

Although the snow was widely expected, the sheer number of people checking to see if trains, tubes, buses were running (nope) or if Britain's motorways were open proved too much for servers.

Snow joke

Rob Cotton, Chief Executive Officer of website monitoring and load testing expert, NCC Group Plc, comments: "Despite forewarning, a number of travel companies have underestimated the number of travellers logging on.

"It is essential that travel providers load test their websites ahead of periods of expected high volumes of traffic to avoid costly downtime, which can be damaging to an organisation's image and leave travellers in limbo.

"The reliability of transport companies is often questioned by the media, so failing to provide commuters with up to date information on what is likely to be one of the most difficult commuter days of the year, could prove to be damaging."

It was hardly a surprise to those who commute that the trains aren't the only thing that can't cope with adverse weather conditions.

However, the social communities quickly stepped up to bring some information to the masses, with Twitter's #uksnow channel attracting road warnings and train updates (alongside pictures of snowmen).

Patrick Goss

Patrick Goss is the ex-Editor in Chief of TechRadar. Patrick was a passionate and experienced journalist, and he has been lucky enough to work on some of the finest online properties on the planet, building audiences everywhere and establishing himself at the forefront of digital content.  After a long stint as the boss at TechRadar, Patrick has now moved on to a role with Apple, where he is the Managing Editor for the App Store in the UK.

Latest in Computing
Nvidia RTX 5070 Founders Edition GPU shown against a green and black backdrop
Nvidia RTX 5070 early pricing hints at plenty of GPUs at the MSRP – but I’ll believe it when I see it
The new limited edition Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses show a translucent design.
Ray-Ban and Meta just teased new limited-edition smart glasses – but they'll be in frustratingly short supply
The iPad Air M3 next to the MacBook Air 2022
Apple iPad Air M3 launch live updates – and is a new MacBook Air still coming too?
PCI Express bus interface connector, x16, x8, x4, x1, on the computer motherboard
AMD warns its RX 9070 GPUs are strictly ‘UEFI-only’ – and if that sounds worrying, don’t panic, it probably doesn’t affect you
An Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070
Worried your Nvidia RTX 5080, 5090 or 5070 Ti isn't performing as well as it should? CPU-Z can now check your GPU for missing ROPs
Quordle on a smartphone held in a hand
Quordle hints and answers for Wednesday, March 5 (game #1136)
Latest in News
An operator fires a saw blade from a weapon
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Season 3 gets two-week delay, will now release in April
Apple iPad A16
Apple's new entry-level iPad ups the performance for the same price, but doesn't support Apple Intelligence
iPad Air M3
Apple updates iPad Air with powerful M3 chip and pairs it with Pro-level Magic Keyboard
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 in blue
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 might improve on its predecessor in one crucial way
Nvidia RTX 5070 Founders Edition GPU shown against a green and black backdrop
Nvidia RTX 5070 early pricing hints at plenty of GPUs at the MSRP – but I’ll believe it when I see it
US President Donald Trump speaks to the press as he signs an executive order to create a US sovereign wealth fund, in the Oval Office of the White House on February 3, 2025, in Washington, DC.
US set to pause cyber-offensive operations against Russia - but CISA says it won't stop