Airline passengers hoping to jet off ahead of the New Year were hit by severe delays, as thick fog caused chaos at the UK’s busiest airports. Gatwick, Heathrow and Manchester, the UK’s three busiest airports, were forced to cancel a number of flights on Friday, with almost all scheduled departures severely delayed due to the troubling weather.

Thick fog is expected to disrupt hundreds of flights home on the busiest travelling day of the Christmas holidays. Flights at Stansted Airport were affected by the weather conditions on Saturday, while live departure boards showed delays at Heathrow,

Fog is continuing to disrupt flights at Gatwick Airport with restrictions imposed to maintain safety. On what is expected to be the airport's busiest day of the Christmas period, it said some flights "may be delayed throughout the day" due to "poor visibility" and apologised to customers.