rules

EasyJet, Jet2 and BA cabin bag rules as big Ryanair change kicks in ahead of half term

Avoid paying a massive fee at the airport gates by checking your cabin bag size before you fly. With half term on the way, here’s the latest sizing regulations for some of the most popular airlines

One thing that often catches passengers out when flying on budget airlines is cabin baggage allowances. On busy flights, it’s common to see the dreaded bag sizer coming out, and being over just a centimetre can mean you end up paying a massive fee to check your bag at the gate.

To make things even more confusing, cabin bag size allowances change all the time, so even if you’re a frequent flyer, you can get caught out. It’s always best to check the size of the cabin bag that’s included with your ticket just before you go, so you can avoid hassle at the gates.

It’s also much cheaper to pay for extra bags when you book your flight, not once you’re at the airport, so always make sure you’ve booked the amount you need in advance.

Cabin bag allowances by airline

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Ryanair

Ryanair is notorious for strictly enforcing cabin baggage sizes, and if you’re taking a bag on board, you should make sure you get the tape measure out and check the dimensions before you head to the airport.

However, there’s good news for Ryanair passengers: the free underseat bag included in its basic fare can now be slightly larger. Previously, this small bag had to fit in a sizer with the dimensions of 40 x 25 x 20 cm, but since summer 2025 it can now be up to 40 x 30 x 20 cm. These free bags need to fit under the seat in front of you, and usually people bring a handbag, laptop bag, or small rucksack.

Technically, there’s no weight limit on these small bags, as long as they fit under the seat, but passengers will need to be able to carry and handle them, and an excessively heavy bag could be noticed by flight attendants.

Passengers can also pay to bring a second cabin bag of up to 55 x 40 x 20cm onboard with them, and this bag has a weight limit of 10KG. Passengers will need to lift this bag into the overhead locker above them, so bear this in mind when packing. If you prefer to check a bag, you can add a 10KG, 20KG, or 23KG bag to the hold. Prices vary depending on route and availability.

EasyJet

Budget airline easyJet is also known for strictly monitoring bag sizes, and you’ll see lots of orange sizers around the airport so you can check whether your luggage will fit. However, it’s best to measure bags at home when they’re packed so you can adjust accordingly.

Everyone who flies with easyJet gets one small underseat cabin bag included in the price. This can be up to 45 x 36 x 20 cm in size, and easyJet states it can’t exceed 15KG in weight.

Customers also have the option to book a second cabin bag of 56 x 45 x 25 cm maximum, including handles and wheels. As a bonus, if you book a second bag, you get speedy boarding included. When booking your flight, you also have the option to pay for up to three checked bags of 15KG, 23KG, or a whopping 32KG. Some airports offer a twilight bag drop for passengers on early flights, meaning you can check your luggage the night before heading off and head straight for security in the morning.

Jet2

Whether you’ve booked a package holiday with Jet2, or just a flight, cabin baggage allowances are the same. You get a small bag of 40 x 30 x 20cm, which must fit under the seat, and the price also includes a 10KG piece of hand luggage of up to 56cm x 45cm x 25cm. Again, you must ensure measurements include handles, wheels, and other fixtures.

Package holidays include 22KG of checked baggage, but if you’ve only booked a flight, you can still add a checked bag for a fee. Passengers can buy up to three bags of 22KG in weight, perfect for those who don’t like to travel light.

Families travelling with young kids can also bring a collapsible pushchair, car seat, and/or travel cot free of charge.

British Airways

British Airways (BA)’s economy basic fare includes a handbag and a cabin bag. The former can be up to 40 x 30 x 15cm in size and needs to easily fit under the seat in front, while cabin bags can be up to 56 x 45 x 25cm in size. However, BA can only guarantee that the smaller item will be allowed on board. If there’s not enough space in the overhead locker, your cabin bag may need to go in the hold.

BA also offers a range of options for checked bags, depending on the flight route you take and which classes are available. Economy with checked bag includes a 23KG bag in the hold, and unlike most airlines, BA put a size restriction on these checked bags of 90 x 75 x 43cm. Those lucky enough to fly business or first class get much bigger allowances.

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TUI

If you’ve booked a flight only on TUI Airways, you’ll get a piece of hand luggage of up to 10KG in weight for free, and this can measure up to 55 x 40 x 20 cm. You can also bring a small personal item like a handbag or laptop bag of up to 40 x 30 x 20cm that’s placed under the seat in front of you. TUI emphasises that passengers must be able to lift their hand luggage into overhead storage compartments themselves.

Customers can also add a checked bag when booking their flight, with prices depending on the route and availability. However, if you book a package holiday through TUI and are flying with its airline, then 20KG of checked luggage is included. Some holiday types, such as TUI BLUE or cruises, have a 25KG allowance, so it’s worth checking your booking confirmation before you go.

Have a story you want to share? Email us at webtravel@reachplc.com

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MAHA reshaped health policy. Now it’s working on environmental rules

On New Year’s Eve, Lee Zeldin did something out of character for an Environmental Protection Agency leader who has been hacking away at regulations intended to protect Americans’ air and water.

He announced new restrictions on five chemicals commonly used in building materials, plastic products and adhesives, and he cheered it as a “MAHA win.”

It was one of many signs of a fragile collaboration that’s been building between a Republican administration that’s traditionally supported big business and a Make America Healthy Again movement that argues corporate environmental harms are putting people’s health in danger.

The unlikely pairing grew out of the coalition’s success influencing public health policy with the help of its biggest champion, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. As Health and Human Services secretary, he has pared back vaccine recommendations and shifted the government’s position on topics such as seed oils, fluoride and Tylenol.

Building on that momentum, the movement now sees a glimmer of hope in the EPA’s promise to release a “MAHA agenda” in the coming months.

At stake is the strength of President Trump’s coalition as November’s midterm elections threaten his party’s control of Congress. After a politically diverse group of MAHA devotees came together to help Trump return to the White House a little more than one year ago, disappointing them could mean losing the support of a vocal voting bloc.

Activists such as Courtney Swan, who focuses on nutritional issues and has spoken with EPA officials in recent months, are watching closely.

“This is becoming an issue that if the EPA does not start getting their stuff together, then they could lose the midterms over this,” she said.

Christopher Bosso, a professor at Northeastern University who researches environmental policy, said Zeldin didn’t seem to take MAHA seriously at first, “but now he has to, because they’ve been really calling for his scalp.”

MAHA wins a seat at the table

Last year, prominent activist Kelly Ryerson was so frustrated with the EPA over its weakening of protections against harmful chemicals that she and other MAHA supporters drew up a petition to get Zeldin fired.

The final straw, Ryerson said, was the EPA’s approval of two new pesticides for use on food. Ryerson, whose social media account “Glyphosate Girl” focuses on nontoxic food systems, said the pesticides contained “forever chemicals,” which resist breakdown, making them hazardous to people. The EPA has disputed that characterization.

But Ryerson’s relationship with the EPA changed at a MAHA Christmas party in Washington in December. She talked to Zeldin there and felt that he listened to her perspective. Then he invited her and a handful of other activists to sit down with him at the EPA headquarters. That meeting lasted an hour, and it led to more conversations with Zeldin’s deputies.

“The level of engagement with people concerned with their health is absolutely revolutionary,” Ryerson said in an interview. She said the agency’s upcoming plan “will say whether or not they take it seriously,” but she praised MAHA’s access as “unprecedented.”

Rashmi Joglekar, associate director of science, policy and engagement at UC San Francisco’s Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment, said it’s not typical for an activist group to meet with the EPA administrator. She said MAHA’s ability to make inroads so quickly shows how “powerful” the coalition has become.

The movement’s influence is not just at the EPA. MAHA has steered federal and state lawmakers away from enacting liability shields that protect pesticide manufacturers from expensive lawsuits. In Congress, after MAHA activists lobbied against such protections in a funding bill, they were removed. A similar measure stalled in Tennessee’s Legislature.

Zeldin joined a call in December with the advocacy group MAHA Action, during which he invited activists to participate in developing the EPA’s MAHA agenda. Since then, EPA staffers have regularly appeared on the weekly calls and promoted what they say are open-door policies.

Last month, Ryerson’s petition to get Zeldin fired was updated to note that several signers had met with him and are in a “collaborative effort to advance the MAHA agenda.”

Zeldin’s office declined to make him available for an interview on his work with MAHA activists, but EPA Press Secretary Brigit Hirsch said the forthcoming agenda will “directly respond to priorities we’ve heard from MAHA advocates and communities.”

The American Chemistry Council said “smart, pro-growth policies can protect both the environment and human health as well as grow the U.S. economy.”

EPA’s alliance with industry raises questions

Despite the ongoing conversations, the Republican emphasis on deregulation still puts MAHA and the EPA on a potential collision course.

Lori Ann Burd, the environmental health program director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said the administration has a particularly strong alliance with industry interests.

As an example, she pointed to the EPA’s proposal to allow the broad use of the weed killer dicamba on soybeans and cotton. A month before the announcement, the EPA hired a lobbyist for the soybean association, Kyle Kunkler, to serve in a senior position overseeing pesticides.

Hirsch denied that Kunkler had anything to do with the decision and said the EPA’s pesticide decisions are “driven by statutory standards and scientific evidence.”

Environmentalists said the hiring of ex-industry leaders is a theme of this administration. Nancy Beck and Lynn Dekleva, for example, are former higher-ups at the American Chemistry Council, an industry association. They now work in leadership in the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, which oversees pesticide and toxic chemical regulation.

Hirsch said the agency consults with ethics officials to prevent conflicts of interest and ensures that appointees are qualified and focused on the science, “unlike previous administrations that too often deferred to activist groups instead of objective evidence.”

Alexandra Muñoz, a molecular toxicologist who works with MAHA activists on some issues and was in the hourlong meeting with Zeldin, said she could sense industry influence in the room.

“They were very polite in the meeting. In terms of the tone, there was a lot of receptivity,” she said. “However, in terms of what was said, it felt like we were interacting with a lot of industry talking points.”

Activists await the EPA’s MAHA agenda

Hirsch said the MAHA agenda will address issues such as lead pipes, forever chemicals, plastic pollution, food quality and Superfund cleanups.

Ryerson said she wants to get the chemical atrazine out of drinking water and stop the pre-harvest desiccation of food, in which farmers apply pesticides to crops immediately before they are harvested.

She also wants to see cancer warnings on the ingredient glyphosate, which some studies associate with cancer even as the EPA said it is unlikely to be carcinogenic to humans when used as directed.

Although she’s optimistic that the political payoffs will be big enough for Zeldin to act, she said some of the moves he’s already promoting as “MAHA wins” are no such thing.

For example, in his New Year’s Eve announcement on a group of chemicals called phthalates, he said the agency intends to regulate some of them for environmental and workplace risks, but didn’t address the thousands of consumer products that contain the ingredients.

Swan said time will tell if the agency is being performative.

“The EPA is giving very mixed signals right now,” she said.

Govindarao, Swenson and Phillis write for the Associated Press. Govindarao reported from Phoenix.

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German football federation rules out World Cup boycott to oppose Trump | World Cup 2026 News

German football federation confirms it met to discuss a boycott of the FIFA 2026 World Cup, which is co-hosted by the US.

The German football federation has ruled out a boycott of the World Cup despite calls from within to send a message to United States President Donald Trump.

“We believe in the unifying power of sport and the global impact that a FIFA World Cup can have, the federation said in a statement issued late on Friday. “Our goal is to strengthen this positive force – not to prevent it.”

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The federation, known as the DFB, said its executive committee met and discussed the option of a boycott of the tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico, a consideration first proposed last week by DFB Vice President Oke Gottlich.

Gottlich, who is also the president of Bundesliga club St Pauli, referred to Trump’s recent actions and statements and said it was time to “seriously consider” a boycott.

In what appears to be a public rebuke to Gottlich, however, the DFB said “debates on sports policy should be conducted internally and not in public”.

The DFB said a boycott “is not currently under consideration. The DFB is in contact with representatives from politics, security, business, and sports in preparation for the tournament” from June 11-July 19.

Trump has sown discord in Europe with his takeover bid for Greenland and threats to impose tariffs on European countries that opposed it, while US actions in Venezuela and at home in dealing with protests in American cities have also raised alarm.

Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter last week advised fans to stay away from the tournament.

When president, however, Blatter opposed calls to boycott the 2018 World Cup in Russia over concerns about Ukraine.

“Football can not be boycotted in any country,” he said at the time.

Ahead of this summer’s tournament, fans have concerns about high ticket prices, while travel bans imposed by the Trump administration could also prohibit supporters from some competing nations from attending.

Germany’s team, at least, will be there.

“We want to compete fairly against the other qualified teams next summer,” the DFB said. “And we want fans worldwide to celebrate a peaceful festival of football in the stadiums and at fan zones – just as we experienced at the 2024 European Championship in our own country.”

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Appeals court rules DHS Secretary Kristi Noem unlawfully ended TPS for Venezuela, Haiti

Jan. 29 (UPI) — An appeals court ruled that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem unlawfully ended immigration protections for Haiti and Venezuela.

The three judges of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Noem, who ended the Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans on Jan. 29, 2025. She ended TPS protection for Haitians on June 28.

The opinion, written late Wednesday by Judge Kim McLane Wardlaw, said Noem’s “unlawful actions have had real and significant consequences for the hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans and Haitians in the United States who rely on TPS.”

She said the move has hurt immigrants who came here to work.

“The record is replete with examples of hard-working, contributing members of society — who are mothers, fathers, wives, husbands, and partners of U.S. citizens, pay taxes, and have no criminal records — who have been deported or detained after losing their TPS,” Wardlaw wrote.

“The Secretary’s actions have left hundreds of thousands of people in a constant state of fear that they will be deported, detained, separated from their families, and returned to a country in which they were subjected to violence or any other number of harms,” she said.

The concurring opinion by Judge Salvador Mendoza Jr. noted that Noem and President Donald Trump had made racist remarks about the people of Venezuela and Haiti, meaning that the decision to end TPS was “preordained” and not based on need.

“The record is replete with public statements by Secretary Noem and President Donald Trump that evince a hostility toward, and desire to rid the country of, TPS holders who are Venezuelan and Haitian,” Mendoza wrote. “And these were not generalized statements about immigration policy toward Venezuela and Haiti or national security concerns to which the Executive is owed deference. Instead, these statements were overtly founded on racist stereotyping based on country of origin.”

The concurring opinion cites Noem calling Venezuelans “dirtbags” and “criminals,” and Trump saying that immigrants are “poisoning the blood” of Americans.

The ruling, though, won’t change the TPS removal for Venezuelans. The Supreme Court ruled in another case in October to allow Noem to end the TPS while the court battles continue.

TPS began as part of the Immigration Act of 1990. It allows the Department of Homeland Security secretary to grant legal status to those fleeing fighting, environmental disaster or “extraordinary and temporary conditions” that prevent a safe return. TPS can last six, 12 or 18 months, and if conditions stay dangerous, they can be extended. It allows TPS holders to work, but there is no path to citizenship.

Haiti was given TPS in 2010 after a magnitude 7 earthquake that killed about 160,000 people. It left more than 1 million without homes.

President Donald Trump walks on the South Lawn of the White House after arriving on Marine One on Tuesday. Trump threw his support behind a legislative proposal that would expand sales of higher-ethanol E15 gasoline as he looked to build support for his economic record with a rally in Iowa. Photo by Kent Nishimura/UPI | License Photo

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Corruption case against Curren Price can move to trial, judge rules

A Los Angeles County judge ruled Wednesday that a corruption case against L.A. City Councilman Curren Price can move forward to trial, ensuring the misconduct scandal will hang over the veteran politician’s final year in office.

L.A. County Superior Court Judge Shelly Torrealba determined that prosecutors had provided enough evidence to move forward on four counts of voting on matters in which Price had a conflict of interest, four counts of embezzlement and four counts of perjury.

Price, who is set to leave the City Council after reaching his term limit at the end of the year, declined to comment after the hearing.

The councilman, who has represented South L.A. for more than a decade, was charged in June 2023. Prosecutors allege Price repeatedly voted to approve sales of land to developers or funding for agencies who had done business with his wife, Del Richardson, and her consulting company. Some of the votes involved funding and grants for the L.A. County Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the city housing authority.

Price, 75, is also accused of perjury for failing to include Richardson’s income on disclosure forms and embezzlement for including her on his city health insurance plan before they were legally married. He is due back in court in March, Torrealba said.

Richardson was named as a “suspect” in the district attorney’s office’s initial investigation in 2022, according to documents made public last year, but she was never charged with a crime. She has been among a group of Price’s supporters who have been in court for the past week. The two wore matching burgundy suits during Wednesday’s hearing.

Much of the weeklong proceeding centered around whether Price knew of potential conflicts of interest before casting votes, or intended to hide his financial stakes in them from the public. Delphi Smith, a former staffer for the councilman, and Price’s deputy chief of staff Maritza Alcaraz took the stand to explain the process they used to flag problematic council votes for Price and insisted they made their best efforts to highlight agenda items linked to vendors or agencies who had worked with Richardson.

“If the Councilman voted on something that was a potential conflict, he did so without knowing,” Alcaraz testified Wednesday.

L.A. County Deputy Dist. Atty. Casey Higgins, however, said Price is ultimately responsible for disclosing conflicts of interest and argued blaming his subordinates was not a defense to corruption charges.

“It’s not only hiding. It’s trying to create a wall around himself, to create this plausible deniability,” Higgins said. “It’s this ostrich with his head in the sand approach.”

Higgins said Alcaraz and Smith were “trying to jump in front of the bus” and that it was impossible to believe that Price had no knowledge of the conflicts. The dealings allegedly took place between 2019 and 2021 — after a 2019 Times investigation revealed he voted on decisions involving at least 10 companies in the same years they were listed as providing at least $10,000 in income to Richardson’s firm.

Price’s defense attorney, Michael Schafler, has argued there is no evidence that Price knew of the conflicts, and claimed payments to Richardson had no influence on Price’s voting decisions. All of the votes referenced in the criminal complaint passed with overwhelming support, and Price’s vote made no difference in the final result.

“There’s been no evidence presented that Mr. Price acted with any wrongful intent. No testimony from any witness … who said Mr. Price acted with willful intent,” Schafler said Wednesday. “I’ve never seen a public corruption case like that in my life.”

There were enormous sums of money on the line in each vote referenced in the criminal complaint. Richardson took in more than a half-million from October 2019 to June 2020 from the city housing authority before Price voted in favor of millions in grant funding for the agency, according to an amended complaint filed against Price last year.

Prosecutors also alleged Price wrote a motion to give $30 million to the L.A. County Metropolitan Transportation Authority during a time frame when Richardson was paid upward of $200,000 by the agency.

After Torrealba’s ruling, Schafler said he was “disappointed” but thought the evidence presented over the past week revealed that “the prosecution’s case has a lot of gaps, a lot of holes, it’s based largely on speculation.”

Some of Price’s City Council colleagues have said Price’s alleged crimes were tantamount to paperwork errors, and should have been handled by the city’s Ethics Commission.

While questioning former employees of Price and Richardson, Higgins sought to paint a more nefarious picture. He repeatedly scrutinized the way that Price’s staff and a former employee of Del Richardson & Associates compiled a list of the firm’s projects that could represent conflicts and communicated about them.

Much of the conflict information was placed on a flash drive and given to Smith in person by Martisa Garcia, an employee of Richardson, Higgins said. Updates to the file were then made over the phone, and not discussed via e-mail, according to Higgins. When Smith and Alcaraz discussed votes in which Price might have to recuse himself, they did so on personal phones rather than city-issued devices, according to evidence Higgins put forth.

Higgins suggested Price’s staff was trying to hide the conflicts of interest.

“Was the thumb drive used to avoid public records requests?” Higgins asked Alcaraz, who curtly replied “No.”

Generally speaking, California Public Records Act requests for an elected official’s communications will only capture what is contained on government devices, not personal phones or e-mails. A spokeswoman for Price, Angelina Valenica, said there was no “intent to avoid PRA requirements” on the part of Price’s staff.

“The Councilmember was not involved in the handling, transport or storage of this information,” she said. “He relied on and trusted his staff to handle the matter appropriately and to seek guidance as necessary.”

While it’s unlikely Price will stand trial before his term runs out, the case could loom large over the race to replace him. A field of seven candidates is running for his council seat, including Price’s deputy chief of staff, Jose Ugarte, who has faced allegations that he failed to disclose consulting income that are similar to the basis of the perjury charges against his boss.

Chris Martin, a candidate and civil rights attorney with Black Lives Matter Los Angeles, said Wednesday that if the allegations are true, Price and his staff need to step down.

“It’s a serious breach of public trust. It’s important that we have leaders in the 9th District who will walk with integrity,” Martin said. “It also seems like he’s got a major issue with his staff enabling him. They should all resign.”

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Charter Reform Commission, L.A. City Council look to impose transparency rules

The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to approve a law aimed at boosting transparency at the Charter Reform Commission, by requiring that members of that panel disclose any private talks they have with the city’s elected officials.

The vote comes about two months before the commission, which began its work in July, is scheduled to finish its deliberations and deliver a list of recommendations to the council.

Councilmember Monica Rodriguez, who proposed the ordinance, said she has been trying since August to pass a measure requiring the disclosure of such private conversations, known as “ex parte” communications. That effort was greeted with “nearly six months of stonewalling,” she said.

“While this is an important victory for oversight and transparency, government accountability shouldn’t be this hard to secure,” she said.

The ordinance, which also applies to communications between commissioners and elected officials’ staff, is expected to go into effect in about a month. Meanwhile, the 13-member Charter Reform Commission approved its own policy a week ago requiring the disclosure of private conversations between its members and city elected officials.

Some government watchdogs say the disclosures are needed to prevent council members and other city elected officials from seeking to dictate the details of the recommendations that are ultimately issued by the commission. The volunteer citizens panel is currently looking at such ideas as increasing the size of the council and potentially changing the duties of citywide elected officials.

“If the public is going to trust the outcomes of our charter reform process, it has to be transparent and credible,” Commissioner Carla Fuentes, who pushed for the new disclosure policy at its Jan. 21 meeting.

The commission has not yet voted on a proposal to also require disclosure of communications with elected officials’ staff.

It is also looking at the idea of adopting ranked choice voting, where voters list all of the candidates in order of preference, and switching the city to a multi-year budget process.

Councilmember Bob Blumenfield raised warnings about the council’s vote on Tuesday, saying charter reform is substantively different from the 2021 redistricting process. Council members should be engaging in conversations with its volunteer commissioners, to help them better understand how the city is run, Blumenfield said.

Those communications will ensure the commissioners make an informed decision what to recommend for the ballot later this year.

“I don’t want this message to be that it’s somehow bad for council members and mayor and elected officials to be engaging in this process,” he said. “To the contrary, I think we need to double down our engagement. We need to speak to those commissioners. They need to learn a lot more about how this city really works for this thing to be effective.”

The commission is scheduled to take up the motion to disclose staffer conversations at its next meeting on Feb. 7.

Rob Quan, an organizer with the group Unrig LA, said he doesn’t want to see a repeat of 2021, when members of the citizens commission on redistricting were regularly contacted by council members’ aides. Those ex parte communications were not disclosed, he said.

“If it didn’t apply to staff, we would simply be reinforcing the power of the staff, which have from day one been the most problematic aspect of this commission,” said Quan, whose group focuses on government oversight.

He and a group of other transparency activists have proposed a total ban on ex parte communication, which hasn’t been considered by the current commission.

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Driving instructor shares 3 rules to follow on roads during Storm Chandra

A driving instructor has shared three important rules for staying safe on the roads as Storm Chandra brings amber weather warnings, 290 flood alerts and winds of up to 80mph

A driving instructor has issued three crucial safety tips motorists must follow this week as Storm Chandra batters the UK. The Met Office has put an amber weather warning in place, with 290 flood alerts active as of Tuesday morning (January 27) and gusts reaching up to 80mph forecasted in certain areas.

A number of major roads and bridges have already closed in both directions due to the treacherous conditions. “In these kind of conditions there’s a lot of spray and surface spray, so it’s a good idea to put your headlights on,” advised instructor Mark Zondo, who shares driving tips as Theory Test Hero on social media.

He added: “With dipped headlights, this way it is going to be easier for other drivers to see you.”

Mark also highlighted that failing to switch on your lights – even during daylight hours – makes it significantly harder for lorry drivers to spot you, especially when they’re switching lanes.

Regarding spacing between vehicles, meanwhile, he recommended keeping a “nice” distance from the motor ahead. “You can’t really see much for one, there’s a lot of spray and also the road is very slippery because of the wet and so you don’t want to be too close in case you have to brake suddenly,” he explained.

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Demonstrating his final piece of advice, Mark eased his foot off the accelerator gradually instead of hitting the brake sharply to decelerate his vehicle safely amid the torrential rain.

The initial weather alerts took effect at midnight on Tuesday and are set to remain active for 17 hours.

Forecasters are predicting rainfall totals of 20-30mm across the impacted regions, with some spots potentially seeing between 40-50mm.

The Met Office has also cautioned that there will be a “sharp increase” in snow accumulation at higher altitudes, with the likelihood of two to five centimetres settling in areas above roughly 300m, five to 10cm above 400m, and 10-20cm above 500m.

In response to Storm Chandra, National Highways has issued its own guidance. “Road users are advised to plan ahead, avoid unnecessary travel where possible, and allow extra time for journeys,” they stated.

“Drivers should be aware that surrounding local roads may also be affected by flooding and should not attempt to drive through floodwater.”

Speaking more widely about the flooding concerns, National Highways revealed that expert crews will be checking carriageway drainage infrastructure, including gullies, culverts and ditches, looking for obstructions from leaves, silt and debris swept along by heavy downpours.

“If drainage systems are overwhelmed or obstructed, water cannot recede naturally, prolonging closure times,” the transport body warned.

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