Jon Snow's dramatic claim that climate change is to blame for fallen tree sparks anger
Channel 4 anchor Jon Snow has been mocked online after blaming when a stormy autumn day knocked branches onto railway wires. The media veteran, 74, said climate change was the reason his train from 's Euston to for the climate summit was delayed. At one point the locomotive slowed to a five mph crawl because branches fell on overhead wires during strong gales between Rugby and Milton Keynes on the West Coast Main Line yesterday. Travel chaos continued at London Euston on Monday as delegates tried to travel to Glasgow for the Cop26 climate change summit despite engineers working overnight to repair damaged wires Claiming climate change was behind the delays, Mr Snow wrote on Twitter: 'En route to COP26 - trees and branches affected by climate change have slowed our rail journey - tho the branches have been cleared we are doen to 5mph - What an irony! What a message! We MUST change! Dare we hope that we shall?' Two hours later, Mr Snow revealed his journey started again at Kings Cross where he got a London North Eastern Railway (LNER) service. Enraged social media users were quick to point out branches have always fallen from trees onto railway lines. One critic wrote: 'I suppose branches didn't fall on lines before climate change then?' It comes following a day of travel chaos as desperate delegates booked last-minute flights to Glasgow when trains from London's Euston were cancelled. Parts of the UK may have seen tornadoes yesterday, according to the Met Office, when rain and strong winds of up to 80mph battered the country. Mr Snow put the weather down to climate change, something other social media users decried. One said: 'Utterly ridiculous, in Europe they cut down trees within close proximity of railway lines which is why they don't suffer from 'leaves on the line' in October. Here, we pander to the environmentalists which stop that kind of thing which is why you're doing 5mph.' Another added: 'Oh get a grip! We've had storms as long as I can remember...and unless you've missed it your train is running on electricity - generated from power plants et al !' One wrote: 'It's got bugger all to do with climate change. Next you will say it's snowing in January because of climate change. It's autumn coming into winter. That's what happens every year. Stop trying to make this about a political agenda when it isn't.' One added: 'I'm fairly sure we had windy days 50yrs ago before anyone was talking about climate change. Its just normal October weather.' Travel mayhem continued at London Euston on Monday after a single tree fell and damaged overhead wires, leaving some Cop26 delegates forced to fly to Glasgow for the climate change conference. Delays continued this morning after the single tree fell between between Rugby and Milton Keynes on the West Coast Main Line. Network Rail said its teams spent the night on site near Long Buckby in Northamptonshire. London Mayor Sadiq Khan's Pendolino climate train left London Euston on time this morning after some passengers were forced to spend the night on the floor due to the delays. One delegate who was forced to fly to Glasgow to reach the Cop26 climate change summit said the irony of having to choose the carbon-heavy option after extreme weather affected the trains 'was not lost' on him. And a journalist travelling to the two-week conference was quoted almost 1,000 for a taxi between Edinburgh and Glasgow after battling train cancellations. Many climate activists had advocated travelling to COP26 by rail, with Swedish icon Greta Thunberg arriving by train from London on Saturday. Opponents of air travel argue that reaching Glasgow by train emits 14 percent of the carbon emissions created by flying to the summit from London. Sadiq Khan wrote on Twitter: 'Delighted to lead a delegation of mayors from across the globe from London to Glasgow on our special electric Pendolino climate train. Per capita passenger emissions are estimated to be seven times lower than flying.' Delays continued this morning even after engineers worked overnight to repair the damaged wires after Network Rail admitted 'extreme weather' had 'got the better of us'. Boris Johnson arrived at Glasgow International Airport at 11.30pm last night after flying straight from the G20 summit in Rome, Italy. The damaged overheard lines have now been repaired and trains are running in and out of London's Euston station, but the delays have continued. The backlog means services that do leave the station are crowded, with reservations mostly unavailable. A spokesman said: 'All repairs were successfully completed overnight and all the infrastructure is fixed and raring to go. Services have already resumed out of Euston this morning but there will be some residual disruption and passengers should check operators websites for more specific information on their chosen services.' The railway company last night said it was 'truly sorry' for the disruption, caused by damage in the Rugby area, which came at the worst possible time for people trying to reach the COP26 summit venue ahead of its opening today. Sky's Samantha Washington was quoted 870 for a taxi from Edinburgh to Glasgow as she tried to get to the climate summit, according to Politico.eu. Other passengers spent the night in hotels or lay on the station floor as they waited for services to resume. One woman said she had to pay a 110 taxi fare to get home after she struggled to get trains out of London heading in the right direction. David Johnson, CEO of the Margaret Pyke Trust, which tackles climate change through family planning, said he was on his train from London Euston to Glasgow for half an hour yesterday before he was told it was cancelled. After booking a flight to Glasgow, he said: 'The irony of the climate impacting the trains, meaning a flight to the climate change conference is the only way to get there today, is not lost on me.' Fahad Ajlan, a policy advisor in Saudi Arabia, told MailOnline he had to book a hotel last night when he couldn't get his 10.45am train from London Euston yesterday. He said: 'I am heading to COP26. I had a train leaving yesterday at 10.45am but unfortunately after boarding we were asked to come off and then had to wait for a few hours. At 3pm I decided I had enough of waiting and got a hotel.' It came as parts of the UK may saw tornadoes, the Met Office said, after strong winds and rain battered the country. Gusts of over 80mph were recorded with reports of wind damage which caused major delays to travel out of London. Journalists and academics were among the thwarted passengers who took to Twitter to complain. Some pointed out signage at Euston that trumpeted the rail network's green credentials - saying 'Thank you for travelling to COP by train.' Environmental journalist Cecilia Keating, who was unable to reach Glasgow, tweeted photographs of an overcrowded concourse at London's Euston station. 'Hundreds of delegates to a climate conference stuck in Euston because (the) UK's infrastructure just isn't resilient to climate change,' she said. Another journalist, Pennie Taylor, reported being 'turfed off a train at Euston that was packed to the gunnels with COP26 attendees'. National Rail's live departure and arrivals board showed delays to more than 20 trains, including those travelling to Glasgow Central, Liverpool Lime Street, Manchester Piccadilly, Crewe and Northampton. LNER said that, despite the trees being cleared from the line, 'a further issue' developed with overhead electric wires between Leeds and Doncaster, affecting northbound services. The firm added: 'Services are disrupted route-wide. Please do not travel.' Climate change scientist Simon Lewis, from University College London, who was on the 11am service from London to Edinburgh for COP26, said he had been stuck since 11:45am as a result of the weather disruption. He wrote on Twitter: 'My train to Glasgow #COP26, via Edinburgh to avoid the crowds, now stationary due to gale force winds and severe rainfall causing a tree to fall on the line...' The scientist later added: 'This train ride is certainly Halloween themed, it's a true horror show. Four hours late and no buffet since about 2pm.' A spokesman for Network Rail, Chris Halpin, said last night: 'I'm afraid there are still major delays on the West Coast main line and the advice once again is to not travel this evening. 'That's because the diversionary route by Northampton that we had been able to run trains is now not viable. 'We had problems on the West Coast main line at Long Buckby this afternoon because overhead lined were damaged by trees that had come down in the very wet and windy weather that we had overnight. 'We had been running a diversionary route that got a limited number of services back up and running again but that now is closed and blocked because of problems with the overhead electric lines there. 'Our engineers are working as fast as they possibly can to try and get routes back up and running again so we can get people on the move but our advice to people this evening is not to travel.' A statement from the rail company added: 'We're advising passengers seeking to get from London to Glasgow to travel [on Monday]. This is due to the impact of heavy rain has had on the railway today. 'All line north have been affected at times including the West Coast main line, which remains impassable due to damaged overhead electric wires. 'We are truly sorry for this. We exist to get people and good swiftly from A to B. But today's extreme weather got the better of us.' Just before 2pm yesterday, an announcement in the station revealed all train services had been suspended and the concourse was 'exit only' due to overcrowding. Pictures on social media showed the concourse packed with stricken travellers, many of whom were hoping to travel north for the climate conference which began on Sunday. Others reported being stuck on slow moving or stationary trains - some for more than three hours - while others were forced to book domestic flights to reach the summit. South Western Railway has also apologised to customers after trees blocked part of the network, saying there may be cancellations, delays and alterations to services. Wind damage was reported in multiple areas of the UK on Sunday with the Met Office unable to rule out whether any tornadoes have taken place. Yellow warnings for wind and rain are in place over large parts of the west and elsewhere, and more are likely. Meteorologist Tom Morgan said: 'We've got a deep Atlantic area of low pressure that's bringing a very heavy band of rain and squalling winds across the whole of the country, but particularly in the south of England,' he said. 'We've seen some very strong gusts of wind on the south coast... and a few reports of damage from the winds. 'It's not out of the question that there will have been some localised, brief funnel clouds or tornadoes. 'In the last couple of days we have seen some reports and seen some photos of funnel clouds and water spouts, which are similar to tornadoes.' He added that wind speeds of 87mph were recorded at an exposed location on the Isle of Portland in Dorset, and there were gusts of 60mph across Hampshire, Dorset, Wiltshire and Sussex.