Easter traffic slumped to a 60-YEAR low

Airports, ferries, rail and roads empty

TRAFFIC on Scotland’s roads has fallen to levels not seen since the 1950s as the lockdown finally saw transport grind to a near-total halt.

Airports, ferries, trains and the roads all recorded a massive slump in traffic over the Easter weekend – usually one of the busiest of the year.

Across the UK, traffic on Easter Sunday fell to levels last seen more than 60 years ago, said the AA, with daily car trips down 80 per cent.

Transport Scotland said traffic over the weekend remained ‘very low’, adding that travelling appears to be ‘wholly reduced to essential trips’.

AA president Edmund Kind said: ‘Empty motorways were testament to car owners heeding government advice and not taking a holiday from the lockdown.’

He added: ‘Police have also said that although the roads are quieter, they have seen some excessive speeding. There is no excuse for speeding even if the roads and motorways are almost empty.

‘Speeding has led to several crashes over the last few days which ties up the resources of the emergency services, the NHS and potentially takes up precious hospital beds.’

A separate survey carried out earlier this month shows traffic on some days has reduced to levels last seen in 1955.

Traffic in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and Bristol plummeted to as low as 20 per cent of normal levels, the study by transport data firm INRIX indicates.

Glasgow Airport had fewer than 700 departing and arriving passengers from Friday to Monday, compared to 100,000 during the same period in 2019. peak periods such as Easter, the airport would usually handle more than 100 flights per day.

At the weekend there were fewer than ten per day, including lifeline services to the islands operated by Loganair.

Aberdeen Airport saw around 1,200 passengers over the course of the weekend.

Ferry operator CalMac had only 163 people travelling on Easter Sunday compared to 21,570 last year – a 99 per cent drop in numbers.

Over the four-day holiday weekend, only 1,837 people made a ferry journey on one of the company’s 28 routes – compared to 112,000 for the same period last year.

CalMac’s director of operations, Robert Morrison, said: ‘The extremely low passenger number tells us people are listening to government guidelines to stay at home.’

ScotRail said that its overall passenger numbers were down by 85 per cent each day since the lockdown measures were announced.