Millions face unprecedented disruption as strikes hit Christmas travel

Friday is set to be the busiest day of the winter for journeys within the UK or abroad

Millions of Britons travelling for Christmas face unprecedented travel disruption on Friday with “immense” pressure on roads, railways and airports.

Motorists have been warned the drive home could “spiral into a traffic nightmare” and be mired by breakdowns as 17 million drivers are expected on the roads in the next two days during a four-day National Highways walkout.

A quarter of a million airline passengers set to arrive in the UK on Friday face a strike by members of UK Border Force at six of the country’s biggest airports.

And passengers on trains will be hit by delays and cancellations between London, the West Midlands, the North West, north Wales and southern Scotland.

Rod Dennis of the RAC said: “It is a horrid picture for drivers for sure – the first Christmas in a few years where Covid hasn’t been a big feature, and now the impact of the strikes, including messages from the rail industry for ‘people not to travel’.

“Yet people have plans for Christmas that they want to go ahead with, so are forced onto the roads.”

Paul Charles, chief executive of travel consultancy, The PC Agency, said: “I’ve never seen such distress among people travelling over the festive period.

“The disruption is immense, across rail, road and air and people are having to reconsider their travel plans on a daily basis, based on whether workers turn up for their shifts or not. This should be a period of joy but there’s no such thing for millions caught out this Christmas.”

Members of the PCS union who normally check passports will walk out as part of a pay dispute. The strike begins on the busiest day of the winter for Heathrow and Gatwick, the two biggest airports in the UK.

Longer queues are expected also at Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow and Cardiff airports. The strike continues until 31 December, with Friday 30 December representing a peak day for returning British holidaymakers.

Once arriving passengers have made it through the airport, they may find their problems are only just beginning when they try to catch an onward train.

An overtime ban by members of the RMT union working for 14 train operators – part of a long and bitter dispute about pay, jobs and working arrangements – has sharply reduced services on many routes.

Rail passengers between London, the West Midlands, northwest England, north Wales and southern Scotland face delays and crowded trains.

Avanti West Coast cancelled at least 40 expresses to and from London Euston on Thursday, blaming a shortage of crew.

Axed services included five each way between the capital and Manchester Piccadilly, and the same number to and from Liverpool Lime Street.

Hundreds of trains scheduled for Friday have been culled by South Western Railway, Chiltern Railways and West Midland Trains.

Britain’s busiest station, London Waterloo, will not open before 7am – with the last trains to Surrey, Hampshire and beyond leaving the capital before 10pm.

Rail passengers are being warned to avoid attempting to travel on Christmas Eve, ahead of the next national rail strike. RMT members working for Network Rail will walk out at 6pm on Christmas Eve until 6am on 27 December. The final trains on 24 December will leave as early as 8am.

Nightmare before Christmas: passengers at Euston station in London (Simon Calder)

While no domestic trains normally run on Christmas Day, and few the day after, the strike has wiped out the entire Eurostar operation between London, Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam on Boxing Day – wrecking the plans of more than 20,000 travellers.

Bertrand Gosselin, chief operations officer at Eurostar said: “We share our customers’ frustration and disappointment and we will do all that we can to run extra services when the line is open to give passengers more flexibility.”

With such uncertainty on the railways, many people are reluctantly opting to drive instead – adding pressure to an overstretched system, which has also been hit by striking National Highways staff.

During the evening rush-hour on Thursday, the road data service Inrix warned of average speeds as low as 12mph on the M25 around London and 14mph on Manchester’s M60.

The strike by traffic officers belonging to the PCS union in London and the South East began on Thursday and continues until Christmas Day. There are concerns that warning-sign gantries may not be operational, adding to stress and congestion.

Comfort and joy? Passengers at London Euston station as strikes loom (Simon Calder)

This “may leave drivers more vulnerable on smart motorways if they break down”, AA president Edmund King said, as road safety campaigners warned delays of just a few minutes can cause additional accidents on the roads.

“The longer a vehicle sits stationary without assistance or setting of warning signs around it the higher the risk of a collision,” said Neil Greig, director of policy and research at IAM RoadSmart.