Thousands of passengers have had their flights cancelled because of drifting ash from an Iceland volcano. European air traffic controllers said 252 flights to northern Britain had been cancelled so far. UK Met Office said the ash had reached northern Scotland and would spread across much of the UK by the end of Tuesday. Eurocontrol said that if the volcanic emissions continued at the same rate, the cloud could reach western French and northern Spanish airspace on Thursday. Minor air traffic disruptions were also reported in Norway and a small part of Denmark. The cancellations come just over a year after another volcanic eruption in Iceland caused widespread disruption across Europe, including the closure of UK airspace, amid concerns about the damage volcanic ash could cause to engine aircraft. The Grimsvotn volcano in Vatnajokull National Park in Iceland began erupting on Saturday and closed its airspace for a period.