Last updated 18:00 BST.

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News: Snow, Austria and Switzerland – Istanbul traffic crisis – Dreaming about: the Red Bull Ring.

Channel delays: none reported currently.

Weather alerts: No Red or Amber alerts today but Yellow alerts for low temps, high winds and storms Germany, and snow Switzerland and northern Italy.

Weather: Cold and wet West. Snow Alps. Fine Scandinavia. Unsettled Italy.

Traffic: see @DE_Traffic, from 08:00BST.

See Travel/Traffic/Weather for more.

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Snow: much earlier than expected, it’s snowing across the Alps. Most affected so far are south central and east Switzerland and southern Austria. Swiss authorities are already saying ‘winter equipment recommended’. Winter tyres are not mandatory in Switzerland though if you are involved in an accident, and you haven’t taken measures appropriate for the conditions, you’ll have some – expensive – explaining to do. Meanwhile in Austria, some high roads in the south of the country – specifically B95, B99, B110, B186 according to @ANWBEuropa (Dutch only) – are only passable with snow chains.

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A great photo from @AstonMartinWork of a customer track day at the Red Bull Ring in Austria this week (see the big redish bull in the background). There’s much controversy about next year’s Formula One calendar but nobody seems to be calling the new Austrian race into question. After decades of abuse at Silverstone, and a so-so weekend in Belgium this year, we have 22 June firmly pencilled for Spielberg. At almost exactly 900 miles from London it ain’t actually that far away.

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Nearly 20% of all Turkey’s vehicles are driven in Istanbul. The city’s congestion is becoming legendary, possibly the world’s worst. Without its own oil resources, money outflow to pay for fuel is a serious issue for an otherwise booming national economy. Now prime minister Erdogan – former mayor of Istanbul – has asked residents to ‘reconsider your relationship with your vehicles,’ as he launched a new fleet of 758 buses today and traffic queues reached crisis levels during the holidays. He also revived the idea of a congestion zone, citing London as an example, though it would only apparently apply to non-residents. The big light on the horizon is a new third bridge over the Bosphorus due to open in 2015. With local elections due in March 2014, transport is sure to be a lively debate.

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Last updated 20:30 BST.

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Channel delays: Weather delays DFDS Newcastle-Amsterdam-Newcastle. Expected Amsterdam late afternoon. Return delayed until 21:30, ETA Newcastle 13:45, 12 Oct.

Weather alerts: Amber alert for high winds north west Dutch coast area. Yellow alerts for snow south Germany and south Switzerland.

Weather: Cold/unsettled in the West, snow in the Alps, dry in the East.

Traffic: see @DE_Traffic, from 05:30BST.

See Travel/Traffic/Weather for more.

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Out of its depth? A Range Rover Evoque demonstrating impressive wading ability. More than a fashionable gewgaw then.

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Last updated 20:30 BST.

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NEWS: Implications of Ukraine’s EU Eastern Partnership Deal.

Channel delays: DFDS Dover-Calais 21:15 and Calais-Dover 23:00 delayed 40mins due to port movements, check-in on time.

Weather alerts: No red or amber alerts so far today.

Weather: Morning fog in much of north/west/central then cold later but dry with sunny spells. Rain north Italy.

Traffic: see @DE_Traffic, from 05:30BST.

See Travel/Traffic/Weather for more.

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UKRAINE. The Eastern Partnership deal, the first step for far East European countries to join the EU (including Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia) will – hopefully – be signed at a summit in Vilnius in late November. The deal is still by no means certain – Russia isn’t happy for instance, see DriveEurope 18 September – but already the first steps in transport have been spelled out in a press release from the European Commission today. The first is harmonisation of rules and regulations when – like Serbia, also not yet an full EU member – Ukraine could (we emphasise could) recognise western European driving insurance policies. This would remove a bureaucratic if not expensive procedure at the border. The second – more definite – is an upgrade of the E40/M10/M-06 Krakovits-Lviv-Brody-Rivne road to modern standards. Ultimately that will connect Katowice/Krakow in eastern Poland (and thus Berlin) with Ukraine capital Kiev.

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Random: descending the Bernina Pass, from St Moritz, Switzerland, to Tirano, Italy.

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Last updated 20:00 BST.

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NEWS: 24hr Speed Blitz Germany.

Channel delays: DFDS Dover-Calais – delays of up to 30mins.

Weather alerts: No red or amber alerts currently.

Weather: Morning fog in Low Countries, France, Germany, Poland, Austria, Switzerland and Hungary. Otherwise, cold in the north, fair in the south.

Traffic: see @DE_Traffic, from 05:30BST.

See Travel/Traffic/Weather for more.

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Germany – nearly 15,000 police officers, in 8,600 locations across the country, will carry out a 24 hour speed ‘Blitz Marathon’ starting at 06:00 this Thursday (10 October). It’s inspired by similar events held each year in Nord Rhein Westphalia, NRW, in west Germany (biggest city Cologne). Citizens nominate flash points and – apparently – all monitoring locations will be published online. We’ll track down the details for Thursday.

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From our archive: For Christmas 1935, Mrs Simpson gave the then Prince of Wales this gold Cartier cigarette case, decorated with a map of their travels around Europe, each stop marked with a precious stone. It recently sold at Sotheby’s for £181,250.

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