Millions of people are braced for disruption to Christmas Eve getaway journeys due to severe road traffic and strikes decimating train services. The AA predicted that nearly 17 million cars will be on UK roads on Saturday, leading to severe congestion on major routes.
Pressure on the roads will be raised due to industrial action on the railways. A walkout by thousands of members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) at Network Rail means trains will stop running early, while some routes will have no services all day.
The RAC and transport analytics company Inrix said the worst Christmas Eve traffic on major roads will be between midday and 1pm. They highlighted a southbound stretch of the M6 from junction 27 (Chorley, Lancashire) to junction 13 (Stafford, Staffordshire) as the most likely location for long queues.
Many drivers battled a band of heavy rain on Friday which moved north from southern England and Wales to southern Scotland and Northern Ireland. National Highways said a 10-mile queue built up due to the M25 being closed from junction 11 (Woking, Surrey) to junction 12 (the M3) while standing water was cleared.
Heavy traffic stretched for three miles on the M20 as the westbound section of junction 4 (Leybourne, Kent) was closed after a serious crash on Thursday. The AA reported “severe congestion” on several motorway stretches on Friday, including the north and west sections of the M25, the M1 around Luton, Bedfordshire, the M4 and M5 near Bristol, the M5 north of Birmingham, the M60 west of Manchester and the M8 near Glasgow.
AA president Edmund King said: “We’re expecting Christmas Day to be quieter with shorter local journeys. On Boxing Day traffic will pick up again with approximately 15 million trips as people head out to see friends and family.”
Network Rail said trains will stop running at around 3pm on Christmas Eve, with the early closure meaning the last departures on some long-distance routes will be before 1pm. Examples of last train times involving major cities include 10.45am for Leeds to London, 11am for London to Edinburgh and 12.48pm for London to Manchester.
The normal limited Boxing Day schedule has been scrapped due to the strike, while services will start later than usual on December 27.
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