Busiest day for Christmas travel
Millions of people are expected on roads, trains and planes today on the busiest day of the great Christmas getaway.
The unseasonably warm weather will see more cars on the road this year than last, with the AA warning that up to 18m will be clogging up the motorways on Friday.
Meanwhile the escape route for Londoners in particular was hampered by the unexpected closure of Hammersmith Flyover on the A4. Transport for London said they will be working around the clock to fix the “serious structural defect” which will see it closed until at least early January.
Heathrow Airport is preparing for its busiest weekend, expecting 3.35m passengers to pass through its doors during the holiday period.
Overall, the travel association ABTA said 4.25m Britons will be heading overseas over the Christmas and New Year period – 250,000 more than last year.
ABTA said the rise in travel could be due to more people taking a fortnight off work over Christmas.
One in six workers, some five million people, are expected to take an extended holiday until January 3, according to the Centre for Economics and Business Research.
Heathrow said the most popular destinations for its passengers were New York, Dubai, Dublin, Amsterdam and Paris.
Gatwick, Britain’s second busiest airport, is expecting more than a million passengers and has installed a snow slide in the north terminal to keep children entertained. It is expecting 60,000 passengers today.
A spokesman for National Rail said train operators will lay on 35 per cent more trains this year, cutting the number of rail replacement buses in half.
He added: “We are expecting to be busier this year than last – with about 20 million passengers over the Christmas break. But we will have 54,000 more trains going.”
Last Christmas the UK was under a blanket of snow with freezing fog and ice causing travel mayhem.
This year, however, temperatures are expected to climb to double figures across the nation. Channel 4 News’ weather presenter Liam Dutton predicts a green Christmas for much of the country, welcome news for those driving home.
Stay up to date with the weather over the festive period at channel4.com/weather and follow Liam on Twitter for regular weather chatter – @liamdutton