Traffic news live: Easter travellers warned of train chaos and airport strikes with 19 million to hit UK roads
AA estimates 19 million to drive on Good Friday, followed by 18 million on Saturday
People heading on an Easter getaway this weekend are facing travel chaos, as multiple train lines close and millions hit the road.
Traffic queues are expected to form along major roads, as people try to get ahead of the estimated 19 million people expected to drive on Good Friday.
Heavy rain forecast by the Met Office could also disrupt journeys, the RAC has warned, as a yellow rain warning has been put in place across the south west of England.
Train passengers are also being warned over disruption as Network Rail prepares to begin its Easter engineering work - closing a number of railway lines.
The most significant impact will be at London Euston – which will have no services to or from Milton Keynes on Saturday and Easter Sunday, and a reduced timetable on Good Friday and Monday.
Those planning on flying to their Bank Holiday destinations will also face “major disruption”, as Gatwick airport workers are set to strike over pensions.
Dover queues build with delays for French border control
On Good Friday morning queues are building up at Dover.
The Port of Dover said at 8.10am: “P&O traffic is causing extended processing times at Border Control.”
Passport checks for France are conducted at the port before travellers board ferries.
Motorists are told to expect a wait of around 40 minutes ahead of the French border post, and the same length of time for P&O Ferries check-in.
The wait for DFDS Ferries check-in is 15 minutes.
DFDS Ferries says: “We are aware of the queues to arrive at check-in. Please be assured that once you arrive at check-in. we will ensure you are checked-in on the first available departure.”
In previous years, Dover has been the scene of severe delays during the Easter holidays, as coaches converge on the UK’s main ferry port.
But the failure of the European Union to introduce the entry-exit scheme as promised in November 2024 means journeys are smoother than they might have been, with no need for vehicle occupants to be fingerprinted or photographed.
Bigger problem are likely to face motorists returning from France to Dover between Saturday 19 and Monday 21 April.
Last weekend queues of 90 minutes built up for the border formalities at Calais, where both French and UK frontier staff check documents before passengers board their ferries.
Thousand miles of road works lifted
The Government has lifted over a thousand miles of road works this Easter in a bid to make “journey’s smoother”.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer wrote on X: “No one wants to spend their Easter weekend stuck in traffic.
“So we're lifting more than a thousand miles of roadworks over Easter.
“And to save you money, we've frozen fuel duty and delivered record funding to fix potholes.
“Drivers — I'm on your side.”
Flooding could cause travel distruption
Seven flood alerts are in place across the South of England.
Localised flooding is possible from surface water in parts of South West England on Friday and into Saturday.
Land, roads and some properties may flood and there may be travel disruption.
Amber flood alerts are in the following areas:
- Borehole at River Hill, near Flamstead
-Kimpton and Lilley Bottom
-the Candovers and Old Alresford
-Great Shefford, Henley and Assendon
-West Ilsley, East Ilsley, Compton, Chilton and West Hagbourne
-River Mimram in Hertfordshire
It comes after the Met Office issued a yellow weather warning for the southwest of England on Friday, covering tourist hotspots including Cornwall, Devon, Plymouth and Torbay.
The wet weather is likely to cause difficult driving conditions and disruptions to travel over the weekend.
Train lines blocked in the West Midlands
Lines are blocked between Wolverhampton and Birmingham New Street, due to a trespass incident.
Trains running between these stations may be delayed by up to 20 minutes or revised, National Rail said.
Disruption is expected until 08:15 am.
UK holiday hotspot hit by heavy rain weather warning for Easter weekend
Britons hoping to escape to some of the UK’s top staycation spots for an Easter break have been told to expect disruptive heavy rain.
The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for the southwest of England on Friday, covering tourist hotspots including Cornwall, Devon, Plymouth and Torbay.
The forecasters warned that a prolonged spell of rain, some of it heavy, will likely cause difficult driving conditions and some disruption to travel as millions hit the road over the Bank Holiday weekend.
Read more here:
UK holiday hotspot hit by heavy rain weather warning for Easter weekend
Good Friday could see worst traffic
Lunchtime on Good Friday is expected to have the worst traffic of the Easter weekend.
The A303 westbound to Stonehenge and the M5 southbound J15 at the RAC tower north of Bristol are expected to be the worst affected.
Journey times are likely to be nearly an hour longer for both meaning drivers could be stuck in their vehicles for more than half as long as usual.
RAC breakdown spokesperson Alice Simpson said: "We’re still expecting to see extremely high levels of traffic from Thursday onwards, with the greatest number of Easter getaway trips planned for three years.”
Good Friday set to be busiest day of year for Airports
Aviation analytics firm Cirium says Good Friday, 18 April, will be the busiest day overall, with 2,949 flights taking off from UK airports – a departure every 30 seconds on average.
Britain's biggest budget airline, easyJet, confirms its busiest day will be Good Friday.
The carrier plans more than 1,100 flights to or from UK airports carrying up to 145,000 passengers.
The top sunshine destinations are Dalaman in Turkey and the Spanish islands of Mallorca and Tenerife.
But with air traffic control centres across Europe still chronically short of staff, holidaymakers face the worst disruption caused by congestion in the skies in a quarter-century.
Ryanair says 36.2 million of its passengers have been impacted by air traffic control restrictions in the last year, with more than 200,000 flights delayed.
Travellers to and from France and Spain are worst affected.
Good weather could make traffic worse, RAC says
There are already an estimated 74 million journeys planned over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend - but even more could be made depending on the weather.
RAC breakdown spokesperson Alice Simpson said an estimated 6.2 million people are “undecided” on when they will travel for an Easter leisure trip, which means “any sign of sun” could spark “big jams”.
Where will the worst traffic be over Easter? These are the predictions from The Independent
The AA and RAC agree the busiest day over the Easter spell will be Thursday, with 19.8 million motorists in their vehicles at some stage of the day.
Good Friday looks almost as busy. Easter Sunday will see the lightest traffic.
For holiday journeys within the UK, The Independent has used data from previous years to predict the heaviest traffic on four key arteries:
- M6 north of Birmingham, especially Preston and beyond as holidaymakers head for Blackpool and the Lake District.
- M5 southwest from Birmingham to Bristol and Exeter
- A303 southwest through Wiltshire
- M25 particularly between the M23 and M40 junctions to the southwest, and the Dartford Crossing to the east.
A fire next to the track in the Stevenage area is blocking all rail lines.
Trains running between Stevenage and London Kings Cross may be cancelled, delayed by up to 90 minutes, revised or diverted via Hertford North, National Rail said.
Major disruption is expected until the end of the day.
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