Travel news live: Heavy traffic on M25 and M5 as Christmas getaway begins amid 85mph wind weather warnings
One lane has closed on both the M5 and M6 as 23.7million drivers hit the road
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Your support makes all the difference.People driving home for Christmas are experiencing heavy delays on the M25 and M5 as ‘Frantic Friday’ sees strong winds disrupt rail, air and ferries.
Today is set to be the busiest day for road travel according to the AA, with an estimated 23.7 million drivers planning a trip. Friday is also projected to be the busiest day overall this season for UK flight departures, with 2,807 departures alone.
There are currently delays of 40 minutes after a vehicle fire on the M5 and congestion at J25 of the M25 was reported after an earlier accident.
London commuter travel in the final days before Christmas was thrown into disruption on Friday morning after the Piccadilly line closed its service between Rayners Lane and Uxbridge after damage caused by leaf fall left the line with a shortage of trains.
Other travellers have encountered issues with ferry services. The service between Holyhead and Dublin, the main ferry link between Britain and Ireland, will remain suspended over Christmas and into the new year after Holyhead’s port suffered damage during Storm Darragh.
Frantic Friday in the skies
Friday 20 December is projected to be the busiest day overall this season for UK flight departures, with 2,807 departures alone – equating to over 500,000 departing seats, according to the aviation data service Cirium.
The most popular international destinations for UK departures are Amsterdam, Dublin, Geneva, Paris CDG and Tenerife South. To Amsterdam there will be more than 100 flights a day on average between 20 December and 2 January.
Heathrow airport is scheduled to see the largest number of departures over the festive period (8,741), followed by Gatwick, Manchester, Stansted and Edinburgh.
Piccadilly line partly closed on Friday morning during London rush hour
As London commuters make their way into work in the final days before Christmas, some were hit with closures on the Piccadilly line impacting their journeys.
There is no service between Rayners Lane and Uxbridge on Friday morning due to a shortage of Piccadilly line trains. The lack of trains is the result of damage caused by leaf fall, which Transport for London (TfL) staff are working to fix.
TfL advises passengers to use the Metropolitan line to complete their journeys
Wind warnings of up to 85mph as Met Office cautions Christmas holiday drivers
The UK is set to see rain and disruptive winds of up to 85mph this weekend as the Met Office issues weather warnings for Christmas holiday drivers.
Yellow wind warnings have been released for the weekend, with one covering Scotland, much of Northern Ireland, north Wales and north-west England between 7am and midnight on Saturday.
Another warning is in place between midnight and 9pm on Sunday, covering Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and all of western England.
Winds of up to 85mph could hit coastal areas across northern Scotland on Saturday afternoon and evening, with more widespread gusts of 50 to 60mph on Sunday.
Jabed Ahmed has more:
Met Office issues weather warnings across UK as Christmas holidays begin
Met Office says area of low pressure will bring rain and strong winds across large swathes of the UK
RAC urges drivers to avoid roads today 2pm-7pm
Nearly 3 million trips are predicted to take place on the roads today December 20, with a “gridlock period” expected in late afternoon and early evening.
The RAC recommends festive commuters avoid major routes during these hours. Queues of more than 45 minutes are expected on the M3 between Surrey and Hampshire, on the M25 in west London, and the M1 near Watford.
Further north, the M53 northbound from Chester to Liverpool will be worst affected by delays during home-time traffic.
Amber traffic warnings have been issued by the AA for today through to Sunday.
Simon Calder offers last-minute escapes
You can still get away at a reasonable price this side of Christmas. The cheapest flight-plus-accommodation deal I have found for a week, flying away on 24 December, is just £180 per person in a four-star hotel. Per hour, that’s basically one guinea (ask an elderly relative). Spoiler alert: the deal, from easyJet Holidays, may not be the trip of your dreams. You fly on 24 December from Birmingham all the way to, er, Glasgow, and check in at the Doubletree by Hilton on the northern edge of the city centre. That’s about 200 miles closer to the North Pole than the West Midlands. And you will be flying back just as Scotland’s Hogmanay celebrations get under way on 31 December.
If a southbound trip is more enticing, British Airways Holidays has a three-night Yuletide break on the Côte d’Azur, out on Christmas Eve and back on 27 December, for £191 per person. This includes flights from London Heathrow to Nice and a stay at the three-star So’Co boutique property (which describes itself as “a subtle blend of vintage and contemporary”) and 63kg of baggage (physical, not emotional). When you arrive you will also discover the UK is an outlier in locking down on 25 December. Plenty of trains shuttle up and down the Riviera, allowing you to visit Antibes and Cannes on Christmas Day should whim or appetite take you there.
The best airfare bargain for the last week of the year, though, is Jet2 from Edinburgh to Lanzarote for an absurdly low £92 return, flying out on Christmas Eve and back to the Scottish capital on New Year’s Eve (probably crossing flightpaths with those folks who opted for the Birmingham to Glasgow adventure). How can a 3,900-mile round trip on a quality airline be so darned cheap? Because accommodation on the islands is in short supply, and therefore demand for seat-only deals is weak. This could be the year for Christmas camping in the Canaries.
Where will the worst traffic jams be?
The AA has released its predictions of where the worst snarl ups will be on the roads over the festive period and which days drivers can expect the most traffic.
Today, Friday December 20 is expected to see the most cars on the road, with an estimated 23.7 million drivers planning a trip.
The breakdown rescue company predicts that the joint second worst days for congestion over the festive period will be tomorrow Saturday December 21 and Monday December 23, each with 22.7 million drivers on the road.
It has identified several likely congestion hotspots, including:
- M4/M5 interchange near Bristol
- M25 near Heathrow airport, west London
- M5/M6 interchange near Birmingham
- M60 near the Trafford Centre, Manchester
- M1 near Meadowhall, Sheffield
See the AA’s map of the worst traffic jams:
When and where to expect the worst traffic jams this Christmas
The busiest days have also been revealed
How to ensure you Christmas flight goes smoothly
The last thing anyone wants is to miss a flight just before Christmas – so The Independent's travel correspondent Simon Calder has pulled together some advice for stress-free travel during the festive period.
His key points are:
- Sort out your holiday money in advance
- Research the customs rules for your destination
- Check that you can reach the airport
- Allow for long security queues
- Wrap presents after security
- Leave Christmas crackers out
- Avoid too much celebratory booze
Read Simon Calder’s full guide on stress-free festive travel:
Everything to remember if you’re flying this Christmas
Check you can reach the airport, don’t wrap presents you’re taking through security and go easy on the celebration drinks
Will train strikes affect the Christmas period?
This week Avanti West Coast announced fresh strikes that will take place in the final hours of 2024 continuing until the late May bank holiday weekend.
The first will take place towards the end of the festive period on December 31 meaning New Year’s Eve revellers may need to seek alternative forms of transport. Further strikes are then planned for Thursday 2 January and then every Sunday between 12 January and 25 May.
Avanti West Coast centres on the West Coast main line to and from London Euston, and serves a number of main cities including Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow.
On most strike days, the company operates a skeleton service. On the core routes linking London with Birmingham and Manchester, typically one train an hour will run – compared with the normal three-per-hour schedule.
Hourly trains will also run to Liverpool via Crewe (except on 2 January, when the line through Crewe is closed), with less frequent services via Preston and Carlisle to Glasgow.
Read Simon Calder’s full breakdown of the train strikes here:
When are the next train strikes? How industrial action will affect passengers
‘Sustained strike action is now the only way to focus management’s minds on reaching a negotiated settlement’ – Mick Lynch, general secretary of the RMT union
An extended period of ‘pre-Christmas panic’ expected this year
As Christmas falls on a Wednesday this year, the RAC predicts there will be an extended period of “pre-Christmas panic” on the roads as people travel up and down the motorways and roads ahead of the festive celebrations.
5.7m extra trips are expected to be taken this Wednesday and Thursday alone. The peak times are 1pm-6pm on 18 December and 8am-6pm the following day, the RAC says.
Around 29.3 million Christmas journeys will take place between Wednesday and 24 December, the RAC has estimated, with nearly half taking place on the pre-Christmas weekend alone.
Read more from Albert Toth:
Christmas travel: Worst times for driving during ‘record getaway’ revealed
Driving home for Christmas? Here’s what the experts say
This December to be busiest for air travel since the pandemic
The UK Civil Aviation Authority says that regulator data trends suggest airports will be even busier this month than the almost 11 million passengers who jetted off in December 2023, with the demand for flights expected to get back to pre-pandemic levels.
The Independent predicts these will be the busiest days:
- Heathrow: Friday 20 December (outbound); Friday, Saturday and Sunday 3/4/5 January (inbound).
- Gatwick, Manchester and Stansted: Saturday and Sunday 21/22 December (outbound); Saturday and Sunday 4/5 January (inbound). The intermediate weekend, 28/29 December, will be very busy.
- Luton: Friday 20 December (outbound); Fridays 27 December and 3 January (inbound).
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