Travel this Christmas Eve could be the UK’s busiest ever, as millions of drivers take to the roads and hundreds of thousands of passengers catch planes for festive getaways.
Train journeys are also forecast to be very busy, with rail services ending earlier than normal.
Christmas Eve traffic is expected to hit its highest level since the Covid pandemic, according to the RAC, which predicted there will be 4.2 million drivers on the road with popular routes likely to be busier than usual between 11am and 7pm.
The worst time to travel will be between 1pm and 7pm, the servicing and repairs company said.
More than 37 million people are expected to have made road journeys to visit friends and family over the week running up to Christmas, the RAC said, the highest level since it began recording the figures in 2013.
The most congested areas on Christmas Eve are expected to be along the M25, clockwise from Junction 15 for the M4 to junction 19 to Watford, and anticlockwise from junction 10 to Kingston to junction 6 to East Grinstead, the RAC said.
Manchester is also expected to be busy on the M60 clockwise from junction 7 to Altrincham to junction 18 for the M62 for Leeds, it added.
Road closures may add to longer drives than usual: starting on Christmas Eve, the M27 in Hampshire will be closed in both directions between junction 9 to junction 11 from 8pm, until 4am on 4 January.
The last train from London to Edinburgh leaves at 4.30pm on Christmas Eve, while the final train from Newcastle to Birmingham is at 5.40pm. There are no trains on Christmas Day, and very few running on Boxing Day.
Meanwhile, a record number of people are taking to the sky this festive season, with the Civil Aviation Authority predicting that 3 million people will fly from UK airports in the week up to Christmas.
Heathrow has said it is expecting its busiest Christmas ever, as have airports in Birmingham and Manchester.
Travellers from Gatwick are also facing train delays as Great Western Railway has warned that services between Reading and the airport will be disrupted on Christmas Eve because of a shortage of train staff.
In a post on X, GWR said that train services to and from Gatwick and Reading could be subject to disruption on all routes, with delays expected until 5pm.
Buses are also expected to be busy on Christmas Day, with journeys forecast to reach their highest level in a decade, according to the industry body the Confederation of Passenger Transport. It has predicted that more than 100,000 people will take a local bus journey on 25 December this year, slightly higher than last year and up from 87,000 in 2023.
