Passengers rushed to get the last trains before Christmas as the latest strikes decimated rail services and hit footfall for last-minute shopping in city centres.
Millions of people faced disruption to Christmas Eve getaway journeys on Saturday due to the latest RMT walkout and the knock on effect on road traffic.
The AA predicted that nearly 17 million cars would be on UK roads on Saturday, leading to severe congestion on major routes.
Pressure on the roads has been 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 meant trains stopped running early, and some routes have had no services all day.
Network Rail said trains would stop running at around 3pm on Christmas Eve and warned passengers to avoid travelling on Saturday unless “absolutely necessary”. It said there would be “significantly reduced services across the rail network”.
The early closure means the last departures on some long-distance routes was before 1pm. Trains will not start up again until December 27.
The impact of the train strikes is expected to heap more pressure on roads on some of the busiest travel days of the year.
Figures showed the strikes also impacted on the numbers of people travelling to central London and other city centres across the UK for last minute Christmas shopping.
Diane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard, which tracks retail footfall, said: “Central London and other city centres around the UK are still feeling the loss of shoppers due to the rail strike, with footfall 14.9% lower than last Saturday in central London and 13.2% lower in other city centres.”
However the strikes do appear to have pushed up shopping in local high streets, she said, meaning footfall across UK retail destinations “was remarkably resilient”.
She said: "Over the period up to 12pm on Christmas Eve footfall across UK retail destinations was remarkably resilient given the challenges with travel facing shoppers due to the rail strikes.
"Footfall across all UK retail destinations was 1% higher than on December 23 and 9.2% higher than on the previous Saturday when there were rail strikes also.This pattern of footfall is unusual for Christmas Eve, as typically footfall peaks on December 23 and is then lower on Christmas Eve as people travel to their Christmas destinations.
"The uplift from last Saturday is a result of consumers not being able to reach their chosen shopping destination due to the rail strikes on December 17, and many people would have opted to travel yesterday to avoid the possibility of not being able to reach their chosen destination.
"By far the greatest leap in footfall from last Saturday of 26.4% occurred in retail parks, which is clearly a result of customer demand for food and grocery shopping. In shopping centres footfall was also higher than last Saturday (7.4%) and 2.1% higher in high streets.”
As people looked for alternative ways to travel to their Christmas destinations, some coach passengers took to social media to complain about overcrowding at Victoria Coach Station in the morning.
One passenger wrote on Twitter: “I get things are more stressful this year because of strikes but @megabusuk and Victoria Coach Station today is chaos. Huge crowds, horrifically disorganised and no urgency or information from staff. Absolute farce.”
Hundreds of travellers filed through Euston station’s main entrance on Saturday afternoon to get the last trains out of the capital.
PhD student Amy Saunders, 31, said disruption to her journey to see family for Christmas was stressful but expressed her sympathy with striking rail workers who she said would find the situation equally difficult.
Ms Saunders, who was waiting at London’s Euston station to get a train to Northampton to see her father after her Avanti West Coast train was cancelled, said she would be frustrated if she could not get there but would “figure something out”.
“I’ve got some friends in London, if I need to I’ll be like ‘hey, I’m coming to crash on your sofa’. I guess I’d be frustrated but I’d be all right.”
She added: “I’m supposed to be on an Avanti West Coast service that’s been cancelled. I have no idea why this one’s delayed, so a little bit stressful, but I’m sure I’ll get there.
“I support the strikes and I’m sure it’s equally stressful for everyone working here trying to get everyone home for Christmas, and they wouldn’t need to strike if their working conditions weren’t intolerable.”
The RAC and transport analytics company Inrix said the worst Christmas Eve traffic on major roads was expected between midday and 1pm.
The AA said a recent survey showed just under a third of UK adults said they would be driving to see family and friends ahead of Christmas when they would usually use the train.
“The traffic nightmare before Christmas is getting worse,” said AA president Edmund King.
The motoring group is advising drivers to check traffic on their route before they set off.
Meanwhile Border Force strikes were continuing at six UK airports but as on Friday minimal disruption was being reported.
There was little disruption on the first day of the walkout on Friday as armed forces personnel were deployed to check passports, and passengers posting on social media shared similar experiences on Christmas Eve.
A passenger at Manchester Airport said it was the "fastest I've ever got through" with "no queues anywhere" while someone who flew into Gatwick described "not one queue" adding that "for once it was a pleasure".
It followed a difficult day on the roads on Friday as many drivers battled a band of heavy rain which moved north from southern England and Wales to southern Scotland and Northern Ireland.
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.
On Boxing Day traffic will pick up again with approximately 15 million trips as people head out to see friends and family
Mr 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.”
⚠️ Planning on travelling on Christmas Eve? Only travel if absolutely necessary.
— Network Rail (@networkrail) December 23, 2022
Significantly reduced services due to industrial action.
Trains will be busier and finish by about 3pm:
➡️ https://t.co/kTrcZSYnmZ pic.twitter.com/NlrW54j6Ps
Examples of last train times on Saturday ahead of the strikes included 10.45am for Leeds to London, 11am for London to Edinburgh and 12.48pm for London to Manchester.
East Midlands Railway was only running an “extremely limited service” between London St Pancras and Corby, with no trains on routes such as London St Pancras-Sheffield and London St Pancras-Nottingham.
No South Western Railway trains ran on several routes to and from London Waterloo, including Reading, Twickenham and Dorking.
No trains operate on Britain’s railways on Christmas Day.
⚠ Industrial action means rail travel will be significantly disrupted throughout December and January.
— Network Rail (@networkrail) December 23, 2022
✅ Plan ahead and check before you travel @nationalrailenq
https://t.co/J29niIOr7H
💓Please be kind to staff working hard to keep you on the move during this time. pic.twitter.com/LomL1t14uF
The normal limited Boxing Day schedule has been scrapped due to the strike, while services will start later than usual on December 27.
Christmas is a key period for maintenance work on the railways.
Network Rail planned a £120 million programme of more than 300 projects over the festive period this year.
It said “around 85%” of this work will still go ahead despite the RMT action.
