UK travellers warned of likely disruption over bank holiday weekend

Travellers are being told to expect widespread disruption this bank holiday as delays and congestion are predicted across key roads and rail routes, and airports are expecting more than 2 million people through their doors.

On what is expected to be the busiest weekend for travel this year, the transport analytics company Inrix said the heaviest road traffic was likely on Friday between 10am and 6pm, and Saturday between 10am and 1pm.

The RAC motoring company estimated 19.2 million people would take leisure trips over the weekend, the highest figure since 2015.

Drivers were warned that areas around the four-day dance music event Creamfields, in Cheshire, were expected to have particularly high congestion, while traffic to Leeds and Reading festivals was expected to be bad across the weekend.

National Highways, which manages England’s motorways and A-roads, has lifted more than 500 miles of roadworks between Friday and Tuesday in an effort to ease congestion.

Roads in Kent were expected to be busy, with the Port of Dover expecting more than 20,000 cars to travel through this weekend.

Doug Bannister, the chief executive of the port, said waiting times could be higher than usual as work to prepare for new EU entry regulations had reduced the size of processing areas at the main ferry port to France.

People travelling by rail north from London King’s Cross could face disruption as there would be no long-distance services to or from the station between Saturday night and Monday morning, due to works taking place between Biggleswade and Potters Bar.

A reduced timetable was also in place between Euston and Milton Keynes due to engineering works, and services in the Stoke-on-Trent area would be affected across the weekend due to track repairs.

Trains were expected to be particularly busy this weekend, with the number of bookings up 182% on last August bank holiday, according to data from Trip.com. The most popular routes are from London to Manchester, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Newcastle and Leeds.

Airports will be hoping not to have a repeat of last year’s travel chaos when more than 700,000 passengers were affected after a glitch in the flight planning system at National Air Traffic Services (Nats) grounded planes on bank holiday Monday.

The travel trade organisation Abta estimated that more than 2 million people would travel overseas between Friday and Monday, with Friday expected to be the busiest day for departures.

• This article was amended on 23 August 2024. An earlier version said that National Highways “manages the country’s motorways and A-roads”; to clarify, it manages these roads in England.