26 May 2011 - The Philippine Embassy in London provided hotline numbers for Filipino travellers in the United Kingdom and their relatives, in case they will require assistance or advice due to the travel disruption caused by drifting ash from the Grimsvötn volcano in Iceland.
The hotline number is +447802790695. Filipinos who may want to inquire about their relatives stranded in the UK may also call the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in UK (POLO-UK) at hotline numbers +442074511833 or +442074511832.Filipino seafarers or overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) travelling to or from their job sites may also call these numbers.
In a report to the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Embassy stated that as of May 24, several flights have already been cancelled, with passengers advised to postpone non-essential travel to Scotland and the Northeastern part of the country ot to avail of alternative means of travel by coach, car or rail.
Travelers are likewise advised to check with their airlines before proceeding to airports.
The affected UK airports in the Northeast and in Scotland include Aberdeen, Inverness, Londonderry, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Carlisle, Durham, Cumbernauld, and Prestwick.
These airports are expected to have very limited or no air services
In the same report, UK Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said that while some disruption is expected in some airports, it is unlikely to be on the same scale as last year's travel disruption brought about by the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano, also in Iceland.
The Grimsvötn volcano erupted on Saturday and sent a plume of ash 20 kilometers into the sky. The drifting ash from the volcano forced a number of UK airports to limit their services. END