Unless you've been hiding under a rock for the past week, you'll have heard about the volcano in Iceland which has thrown up so much ash that the majority of flights in and out of British airspace have been cancelled over the last few days. It's just been announced that this ban is to extend until tomorrow, leaving many people stranded.
Just wondering whether any members had been affected or if you have any clients who have been affected by it all? How much of an impact do you think it's going to have on businesses?
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I have!!!!!
I'm supposed to be flying out to Las vegas with BA on a stag do tomorrow. It's not been cancelled as yet but let's just say that I've not packed!!!
Marooned in Ohio
Our US colleage Rob Nance, the publisher of AccountingWEB.com, had to cancel his trip to HQ in Bristol this week because of the cloud. I made all the arrangements to travel from Brighton to Bristol, but until Great Western Railway advise that its trains can't cope with the wrong kind of ash, it looks as though I'll be on my way tomorrow.
Rob took a philosophical stance: “When life hands you lemons, make lemonade”. It sounds like he's looking forward to the prospect of a week in Ohio with absolutely nothing lined up in his diary. You can read more about his experiences in his blog, Volcanic lemonade.
UPDATE: I read earlier today that the no-fly rule has affected political campaigners. David Cameron was due in Scotland today, but couldn't make it, so he decided to head for Brighton (where I live) instead.
My mother-in-law
... was due to fly in from Portugal on Friday.
What a pity she couldn't!
Broomsticks?
Wouldn't have thought that broomsticks would be affected by volcanic ash Euan?
Wizardry!
Talking of broomsticks, one of my rather suspicious acquiantances thinks this is all down to Lord Voldermort and that the muggles have been confounded to believe that a volcano did it! (Any members with kids who are Harry Potter fans will know what I'm talking about).
Official comments
As with any big story, we've had 'official comments' from various firms and institutes starting to trickle in. The IPP has issued a payroll warning - read about it here.
Deloitte also sent us a statement in which Rick Cudowrth, head of resilience and testing said:
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“Airspace lockdown due to volcano eruption is an event that was not in most risk registers, including the UK’s National Risk Register. This could lead to questions about the validity of business continuity and contingency planning - things that actually happen can’t always be predicted. The answer is that preparedness, including thorough regular scenario based simulations, builds the ability to manage any kind of crisis.
“Our clients appear to be coping well with the airspace lockdown because they take an increasingly serious approach to planning and preparation for high consequence events – known or unknown. Businesses in general are facing issues with their supply chains, where delivery is by air freight and staff, where they are unable to travel to/from overseas; some industries will be much more impacted than others and in ‘crisis mode’, for example those highly dependent on air travel and air freight.
“Based on the scientific and meteorological forecasts, businesses would do well to play out this scenario over a long-term period to determine the possible consequences and proportionate actions they may wish to take.”
need to get back to do vat returns
I am currently stranded in Jerusalem and need to get back to VAT returns for a bunch of clients before end of quarter.
Fortunatly, no accounts or tax returns need filing by end of April, although I hope I'll be back in time for PAYE.
I know at least two other accountants stuck (one is here with me)
The volcano did us all a favour .............
.......it got the the politicians off the front pages.
This must be serious
Just had my first piece of spam offering Eurostar tickets. Happily, as with the Viagra[***], I don't actually need them at this precise moment.
I heard form a colleague
That the Liberal Democrats have promised to ban volcanoes if they get in, while Brown will simply move them further away!
Act of God
And presumably any extra days in the UK will be due to "exceptional circumstances" for day counting non-residents etc?
Nice piece of ash-tion!
Haha @ IT_Tutor! Very topical!
Dan Martin, editor of our sister site BusinessZone.co.uk had the bright idea of organising a 'volanco tweet up' for businesspeople left stranded in London by the volcano. Check out his video of the event here.