Travellers face major chaos in Easter getaway
BRITAIN faces the worst Easter travel chaos for five years, with 15 million cars expected to take to the roads over the long weekend.
With extensive rail engineering works planned, followed by train strikes, many travellers will be left with no option but to drive.
And plane and ferry passengers have been warned to expect delays due to the sheer number of people heading off on breaks.
There will be no respite the following weekend, with delays predicted on roads and at ports and airports.
Simon Williams, from the RAC, said: “It’s a double whammy of back-to-back weekends with disrupted travel, with a very busy Easter holiday on the roads plus rail works, and then rail strikes the next weekend.
“Strikes mean people who booked trains are in the unenviable position of cancelling trips to families and friends, or being forced to take the car instead.
“Easter looks very busy on the roads as schools break up just as the holiday weekend starts, unlike years when schools finish a week before Good Friday, staggering travel.”
With so many million cars due on roads over the Easter weekend, a Thursday afternoon rush will be followed by jams peaking on Good Friday and Easter Saturday, with people told to travel in the early morning or late evening to avoid major traffic snarl-ups.
Mr Williams said: “The getaway will start on Thursday afternoon as schools stop, and will build up through Friday and Saturday. Congestion is expected on all main holiday routes.”
The AA said the top five traffic hotspots would be the M60 at J9 and J10 near the Trafford Centre, the M6 from J4a to J8 around Birmingham, the M25 at J11 in Surrey, the M5 at J18 near Bristol, and the M1 at J11 near Luton, with delays of up to an hour expected.
National Highways will leave some roadworks in place and more than 2,000 other roadworks, mainly by councils and utility firms, will also remain to frustrate drivers, RAC data showed.
On the trains, Network Rail’s most expensive
‘Congestion on all main routes’
Easter engineering works schedule since 2019 will see £90million spent.
A total of 493 projects will include work on the West Coast mainline, the busiest rail route in Britain, which will shut from London, with replacement bus services also running from London to East Anglia, between six towns and cities in Yorkshire, and in parts of the South.
Network Rail said: “The four-day holiday gives the opportunity to do major work.
“Passengers are advised to check their journeys.”
The Aslef drivers’ strike will then bring
mass cancellations across many rail companies on April 5, 6 and 8.
The Rail Delivery Group said: “Passengers are warned to expect significant disruption.”
Airports are also braced for queues at check-in desks as two million passengers jet off for Easter snow or sunshine breaks.
Hundreds of thousands will pass through Heathrow and Gatwick. Bristol Airport expects its busiest-ever Easter, with 30,000 passengers on Easter Sunday.
The Port of Dover will lay on extra staff to marshall thousands taking ferries, with queues of an hour or longer expected.