Holiday makers driven mad as Easter getaway stalled by storm and floods
EASTER travellers were caught in getaway hell yesterday with two-hour traffic delays, railway chaos and flood alerts ensuring a bad Friday for holidaymakers.
Families driving to the continent were left angry and frustrated by gridlocked traffic after high winds from the Spanish-named Storm Nelson hit Channel crossings.
At Dover, vacationers and truckers were left waiting for hours after choppy conditions on Thursday night led to some ferries being cancelled.
An estimated 20,000 cars and 9,000 lorries are expected through the Kent port over the Easter holiday weekend, and main roads were jam packed with cars, coaches and lorries yesterday.
A staggering 2.6 million car journeys are thought to have been made on Good Friday alone, with 11 million people planning an overnight trip somewhere this weekend.
Airports and airlines said they are expecting “record-breaking” passenger numbers this Easter.
Manchester airport is preparing for about
‘When you fly you get text updates...but there’s no information. You just queue and wait’
320,000 travellers this weekend, 8% more than this time last year.
But ferry passengers at Dover were left in despair yesterday, with officials warning of two-hour hold-ups for tourists, blaming the “backlog” from the bad weather.
As cars queued, many passengers simply got out of their vehicles in the slow-moving lines. P&O Ferries said there were also long queues at the French border control thanks to heightened security following the terror attack in Moscow last week.
Xavier Jahouen, 50, from Southampton, was travelling to the Swiss Alps for a skiing trip with wife Isabelle, 48, son Alexei, 18, and daughter Amy, 14.
He said: “It’s absolutely ridiculous. We are in 2024. This mess has been happening for 10 years and no one has done anything at all.
“They know this is coming. They could have got more passport control officers and got more organised, but they haven’t. This has to be more efficient.
“Open more gates. If you know more people are booked in, then open more gates!”
Retired Briton Richard Walker, 78, and his French wife Karrin, 52, were travelling home to France after attending a funeral in Hampshire. Their planned crossing was delayed from Thursday night until yesterday morning. Richard said: “The communication
was all right when they told us the crossing was cancelled last night because the information came as soon as they got it. But since we got here we have had nothing.We have to rely on radio bulletins.”
Karrin added: “It’s a bank holiday. Surely they must know and can put measures into place? Why is there an hour and a half delay?”
Electrician David Quick, 57, and wife
Mary Jane, from Orpington, Kent, were heading to Amsterdam for a long weekend away.
After 70 minutes of gridlock, David said: “If it was like when you fly and you get text updates, it would be so much better. But there’s just nothing.
“No information.You just queue and wait. It’s so frustrating.”
Ben Oswald, from the Isle of Man, was
heading to France for a week-long fishing trip.
He had been queuing on the A20 for two hours with his son trying to enter the port, with another two-hour wait expected before he can get through Border Control.
Speaking from his car, he said: “It took me five hours to get from the Isle of Man to our Airbnb in London yesterday – and it’s going to take longer to get out of this queue! It’s a
complete nightmare. You’d think they’d change something with the systems but, no, they just can’t cope. Unbelievable.”
Steve Gouldon, from Chatham, Kent, arrived at the Port of Dover four hours ahead of his ferry departure to be safe.
He said: “I’ve got loads of time but it still doesn’t look good. We are going to be stuck here for a long time.”
Elsewhere, planned engineering works
caused delays across the rail network. In London, Euston station was “largely closed” for Good Friday, it was said. King’s Cross was packed full of travellers heading away for the weekend.
Motorists travelling on UK roads were told to allow longer for journeys after more than 150 flood alerts were issued yesterday.
After a wet start, the weather slowly improved throughout the day and sun seekers even headed to the beach in St Annes, Lancs.
A mix of sunshine and showers – “typical spring-like weather” according to some forecasters – is predicted for the next few days.
Showers are forecast throughout tomorrow, with the heaviest rainfall expected in the SouthWest.There should be bright spells with highs of 16C in central and southern parts of England.