The Day Britain Stopped. (2025)

Background
On the 19th of December 2025, the failing of Britain's transport system was exposed with a day of death and gridlock.

Day
Between the 4th and 5th December, 18 months after the Long Buckby rail accident that killed 9, a fatal train accident near Waverley Station in Edinburgh that killed 11 leads to the ASLEF and RMT trade unions to declare a strike for 19 December due to safety concerns, forcing the heavy Christmas rail passenger traffic to use the roads instead. This decision is heavily criticised by the government, particularly by Junior Transport Minister Steven Walker.

8:32am

On the 19th of December, as the strikes begin in the early morning, Britain's roads quickly fill up to capacity. Multiple serious accidents caused by the congestion cause even more delays to those who had been sitting in their cars for hours on end. A football match at Old Trafford leads to a ginormous bottleneck around Manchester. Meanwhile, with the heavy delays on the roads and many deciding to fly, Britain's skies (which were the busiest in Europe at the time) are hugely congested. Many of the air traffic controllers are having to work Double and Triple shifts to cover for their collages who were trapped in traffic, the Christmas Traffic also played into this.

10:33am

Attempts at relieving the gridlock are hampered by a lack of coordination between police services overseeing different sections of the motorway, leading to cases of traffic being diverted onto the same roads in opposite directions. Traffic that managed to work its way through the diversion route past a Surrey accident suffers a further setback when a chemical tanker lorry jackknifes and overturns on the M25 near to Heathrow Airport, causing a pile-up and further tailbacks, resulting in a second closure on the M25, and heavy delays on the M1, M2, M3, M11 and M20, the major artery-roads leading to London. Traffic attempts to drive through Central London, without much success.

13:04pm

The friendly football match between England and Turkey at Old Trafford in Manchester is cancelled for low attendance, with thousands stranded on the M6 and M40, effectively shutting down Manchester and Birmingham. The message is delivered by a stunned Gary Lineker on Match of the Day. Across the UK, flights start to be cancelled due to Pilots being unable to get to their planes.

5:33pm

As night falls, hypothermia sets in among many of the stranded travellers, 3 who are in their cars behind dies from it.

6:55pm Air-traffic controller Nicola Evans in west drayton volunteered to work late when her replacement does not turn up. Overworked, she accidentally sends an Aer Lingus jet to land and a Czech Airlines cargo plane to follow it. Meanwhile, the British Airways flight to Bilbao is cleared for takeoff on the other runway. However, the Czech jet is going too fast and conflicting instructions are given by the other air traffic controllers in Heathrow's tower. After agonising over their choices, they issue an instruction to go-around to the Czech jet.

6:58pm

The Czech cargo plane completes the go around, however it is now heading directly for the British Airways Plane.

7:01pm

The Czech cargo plane collides with the British Airways plane over Hounslow. 122 people are killed onboard the planes, with 54 dying on the ground. 7:05pm

Over 40 incident sites are spread around West London, Emergency Services struggle to the scene using minor roads.

7:12pm

Heathrow Airport is closed as its fire crews scramble to the incident. However, 43 planes are now holding over the South East of England.

8:32pm

Over 100 people have now been killed on Britain's roads. From either car accidents or from hypothermia.

8:37pm

Britain's airspace is now closed, all longhaul flights have been diverted to other European nations.

8:39pm

A Cargo Plane crashes into Woodland in Rural Kent as it runs out of fuel, killing 5.

8:44pm

Operation Gridlock is activated, with food and shelter camps being set up along Chunk Roads.

9:11pm

All planes in the UK have landed and are grounded.

Summary
Over 300 people were killed on December the 19th, a memorial was held for the victims on the following day.