Disruption to train services is causing headaches for people making late dashes to spend Christmas with family and friends. National Rail had reported issues with at least a dozen operators, including strike action affecting services across Scotland and several parts of England. The Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) said a strike by its members who were train managers and senior conductors at CrossCountry was being “solidly supported in all depots”. The action means the company is running a heavily reduced Christmas Eve service, with no trains operating between Aberdeen and Edinburgh; Glasgow Central and Edinburgh; Derby and Nottingham; Leicester and Stansted airport; Cheltenham Spa and Cardiff Central; Newton Abbot and Paignton; or Plymouth and Penzance. A limited service is in place between Edinburgh and Plymouth; Manchester Piccadilly and Bournemouth; and Birmingham New Street and Leicester. The cancellation of train services because of Covid-related staff shortages continues across operators, with LNER, CrossCountry, Avanti West Coast, Northern, ScotRail, Southern, Thameslink and TransPennine Express among those affected. This is involving a combination of planned and short-notice cancellations. Kelly Jones, who was travelling between Bath and Cornwall, said she had been left “cold, stranded and scrambling” to find her way home for Christmas. The 24-year-old told the BBC she was trying to get back to see her siblings after their dad died earlier this year. “This will be our first Christmas without him so I didn’t need this stress. I was given no notification of the cancellation until I [was] midway through my journey, trying to catch a connecting train in Bristol. “This has left me cold, stranded and scrambling to find my way to see my family for Christmas. I do not blame the train drivers themselves. They are striking for better work conditions and to cause disruption to get change – I just wish I had been notified.” With millions of people expected to make journeys on the UK’s roads on Christmas Eve, National Highways has reported severe congestion near Birmingham. The AA estimated there would be 17.8m cars on UK roads on Friday. According to the RAC and the traffic information supplier Inrix, the worst queues were expected in Wiltshire on the A303 between West Solstice Park and the A36. National Highways reported severe congestion on the M6 between junctions 5 and 6 near Birmingham on Friday morning. Thousands of people also learned their Christmas holidays would be cancelled owing to Covid restrictions imposed by their destination countries. The winter sports operator Crystal Ski pulled its trips to Austria departing on 27 December after the introduction of tougher entry requirements because of the Omicron variant. Austria announced on Wednesday that UK arrivals would be required to quarantine for 10 days from Saturday unless they were fully vaccinated, including a booster jab, and had evidence of a recent negative PCR test. Pandemic restrictions across Europe led MSC Cruises to cancel four sailings from the UK by its ship the Magnifica. The cruises, which were due to depart from Southampton on 21 and 28 December and 4 and 11 January, were to call at France, Germany and the Netherlands. The Netherlands has been put into lockdown until at least mid-January, while Germany has joined France in prohibiting UK tourists.