Getaway chaos on roads and rail

THE pre-Christmas school break-up will trigger the worst chaos for years with gridlocked roads and rail delays.

About 30 million cars are expected to join the weekend getaway with 229 miles of roadworks worsening congestion.

The “worst ever” Christmas rail works will quadruple some journey times and there will also be airport delays. The RAC has blamed schools breaking up on Friday, the closest end-of-term to Christmas since 2012.

Around 30 million leisure journeys will be made by car during the next two weeks, RAC traffic trends show. Friday evening and Saturday afternoon will see the biggest traffic jams.

Highways England said 229 miles of roadworks would remain, including 15 miles of the M1 near Milton Keynes, a 20-mile M6 stretch near Stafford, and 11 miles of the M23 near Crawley.

Train travel will not be any easier. Six of Britain’s seven main lines are affected by 330 festive period maintenance projects.

About 25,000 engineers will be tasked with the £148million improvement works for 11 days from Saturday. Lines affected run into Paddington, Liverpool Street, Victoria, Waterloo, Euston and St Pancras.