XMAS HOLIDAZE

Britain’s on way to mammoth shutdown

®

MILLIONS of Brits are starting their Christmas holidays early today.

In what is being labelled the Great British Getaway, the country is set for a huge shutdown lasting an astonishing 17 days.

Many employees are jumping at the chance for more than double the usual time off which has been made possible because of extra bank holidays this year.

As Christmas Day and New Year’s Day both fall on a Sunday, December 27 and January 2 are additional days off.

Some schools have already closed for 2016 with children not set to return to class until January 10 – a whopping 24-day break.

State schools in Birmingham, Leeds, Bristol and Sheffield will finish today with some in Hampshire, Sunderland, Durham, Devon and Cornwall marking the end of term on the same day.

Revellers

Children in places such as London, Manchester, Liverpool and Newcastle all have to wait until at least next Wednesday before their Christmas holiday begins.

But there are concerns for working parents struggling to find childcare.

And police chiefs warned revellers to behave ahead of “Mad Friday” today – the busiest night of the year for Christmas partying.

Tomorrow is expected to be the busiest day on Britain’s roads in the run-up to Christmas, according to traffic analysts Inrix.

Travel misery is on the cards with some journeys taking four times as long.

The M25, A4 and the southbound M5 from the West Midlands towards the West Country are set to be the worst hit.

More travel chaos is due to affect train passengers on Tuesday – when Southern Railway commuter services will be hit by another strike.

Network Rail is warning of major disruption on the line.

Tuesday is also set to be the busiest day of the festive season for London’s Heathrow airport, with 235,000 passengers passing through – 35,000 more than a normal day.

BURGER King is offering to swap unwanted presents for Boxing Day a burger. Punters must post a picture of the gift and #WhopperExchange to get a giftcard to redeem. has HOME Alone the best been named of all time Xmas movie film Die Hard with action Gift website in second. used box Prezzybox and online office data come up ratings to with the chart. joe.kasper@dailystar.co.uk

AMANDA Holden has had a cheeky dig at Simon Cowell over his love of make-up. The Britain’s Got Talent judge mocked him while playing The Fairy Godmother in the Cinderella panto at the London Palladium. Amanda, 45, told the audience

that the Ugly Sisters “put their make-up on with a trowel – the only one who wears more goes by the name of Cowell.” Amanda was joined on stage by Julian Clary, Sir Cliff Richard and America’s Got Talent ventriloquist Paul Zerdin.