Christmas travellers face problems on rail and road as the great festive getaway begins

‘Staff sickness due to Covid, the side effects from booster jabs and seasonal illnesses,’ says Thameslink of today’s cancellations

Departing soon? TransPennine Express train at Newcastle station. The operator has so far cancelled 29 services on Thursday (Simon Calder)

Millions of travellers face problems as the great Christmas getaway begins – with widespread train cancellations and congestion expected on key motorways.

Train travel is being severely disrupted in parts of Great Britain, with a points failure on one of the key long-distance and commuter lines adding to problems caused by Covid-19 and industrial action.

Commuters and inter-city passengers on the Midland main line between Sheffield, Derby, Nottingham, Leicester, Bedford and London St Pancras are facing delays and cancellations due to a points failure between West Hampstead and St Albans.

“Trains are able to run, but there will be a reduced number of lines for trains to use so this will cause some congestion between these stations whilst services divert,” says National Rail.

Many Thameslink trains through London St Pancras are cancelled, partly because of the points failure but also because of staff shortage. The causes, says the train operator, are: “Staff sickness due to Covid, the side effects from booster jabs and seasonal illnesses.

“This means we may unfortunately have to cancel or amend services at short notice.”

All trains between Cambridge and Brighton have been axed, along with some services between Horsham and Peterborough.

Many other train operators are cancelling services as a result of a shortage of crew.

They include LNER between London, Yorkshire, northeast England and Scotland, which has axed 16 trains linking Leeds and Lincoln with London  King’s Cross; Avanti West Coast from London Euston to the West Midlands and northwest England; and GWR, which links London Paddington with the West of England and South Wales.

CrossCountry trains are expected to be particularly busy ahead of Christmas Eve due to a strike by members of the RMT union over the role of guards.

“We will only be able to run a very limited timetable, with the cancellation of many of our services,” the operator says. Tickets bought for travel on Friday can be used on Thursday.

The RMT’s general secretary, Mick Lynch, said: “There has been a systematic attempt by Cross Country to undermine the role of the senior conductors and train managers by drafting in other staff to do their jobs.”

TransPennine Express has cancelled 29 trains in advance for Thursday, and says: “Services across our network over the coming days may be subject to delays and short-notice cancellations due to a lack of available staff caused by increasing staff sickness and industrial relations issues.”

The worst-affected routes are between Manchester and Hull and links from Scarborough via York and Leeds to Manchester and Liverpool.

As usual, rail services will start winding down on the evening of Christmas Eve. No trains will run anywhere in the UK on 25 December, and only a handful on Boxing Day.

On the roads, the RAC is predicting the busiest getaway on the roads in five years. The highest number of leisure journeys by car – some 5.3 million – are expected to take place on Christmas Eve, which the motoring organisation has dubbed “Frantic Festive Friday”.

The RAC says: “Drivers are advised to set off early or postpone their trips until after dark to avoid the worst of the traffic.”

The transportation analytics specialists Inrix predicts the worst delays on Thursday on the clockwise M60 around Manchester, the southbound M40 in Oxfordshire and the northern and western sections of the M25.

The single worst queue before Christmas is expected on the M25 between Gatwick and the junction for the M40 on Thursday afternoon.

Rod Dennis, spokesperson for RAC Breakdown, said: “Despite the increasing prevalence of the Omicron Covid variant, our research shows that the vast majority of drivers are still determined to do Christmas properly this year – in sharp contrast to 12 months ago.

“But with overall traffic volumes in the run-up to the big day set to be down slightly on normal given the current ‘work from home’ guidance, there’s reason to hope there won’t be too many queues as millions get away to see friends and family.”

National Highways says it is keeping almost 98 per cent of the road network it manages free from roadworks.

The UK’s airports are expected to be much quieter than normal. Many flights have been cancelled either as a direct result of travel bans imposed by France and Germany or because of the slump in passenger numbers triggered by the spread of the Omicron variant and government travel restrictions.

Manchester airport is telling travellers: “Due to additional pre-departure checks as countries update travel guidance, we ask that you arrive at the airport at the earliest time your airline recommends.”