A two-day spell of unprecedented weather saw Wales set a new temporary heat record of 37.1C in Hawarden, Flintshire, on Monday afternoon – almost two degrees higher than the previous record.
In England, Santon Downham, in Suffolk, recorded a high temperature of 38.1C, just 0.6C lower than the current UK national record of 38.7C set in Cambridge in 2019.
Forecasters have predicted high temperatures of 40C in Peterborough, Grantham and Doncaster on Tuesday, with a 95 per cent chance the current record will be broken.
Rail services were badly disrupted as Network Rail imposed speed limits from 20mph to 90mph across the country.
The operator said “very late” trains and canceled trains were double their normal level on Monday, with 2,000 services out of 12,800 either more than half an hour late or cancelled. Another 2,000 were between five and 30 minutes late.
Just 67 per cent of all UK rail services arrive within five minutes of the timetable, or within 10 minutes on long-distance lines, compared to around 90 per cent on a normal day.
Dozens of operators urged people to avoid travel unless “absolutely essential” as they canceled services. Southern Rail, which serves Brighton and the south coast, said journeys to the beach were “not essential”.
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