Roads and Airports Busy as Easter Get-Away Begins

Tens of thousands of motorists brought travel problems to parts of the UK today as the Easter get-away began in earnest.

Conditions on Britain’s major routes were more like a busy Friday while the first of a record 2.2 million people travelling abroad this weekend flew out of the country.
The RAC predicted that tomorrow morning would also be busy with more people either heading off on their holidays or to the nearest garden centre or retail park.

The organisation said as many as 17 million vehicles would be on the move over the Easter weekend.

An RAC spokeswoman said: “Down in the Devon area at the end of the M5 we saw traffic problems today and in the south east especially around the M20.

“Different parts of the country have seen schools breaking up at different times so we’ve seen a steady flow of traffic.

“But the traffic today was like a busy Friday evening than a Thursday.”

She predicted tomorrow would also be very busy as holiday traffic mingled with people heading for shops and DIY or garden centres.”

Forecasters predicted the best of the weather would be tomorrow when temperatures could reach as high as 18C (64F) in southern England.

Although Saturday is likely to be dry and sunny in places, cooler and showery weather was expected on Easter Sunday and Easter Monday.

Sporting events over the weekend include the Boat Race on Sunday, England’s World Cup qualifying match on Saturday with Northern Ireland in Manchester and the the clash in Cardiff between Wales and Austria.

Among the most popular foreign destinations were New York, Dublin, Paris, Tenerife and southern Spain.

The Association of British Travel Agents said many ski resorts were sold out and that north Africa was proving a popular Easter destination for Britons.

The VisitBritain organisation said research showed that 21% of British adults were planning a trip in the UK in the next two weeks.

The RAC spokesperson said: “On Monday many people who have travelled further afield will be returning from their breaks, with motorways, major roads and those surrounding airports and ferry ports being the busiest.”

The Highways Agency has suspended a number of roadworks on major routes in England, but some remain in place, including those on the western section of the M25 near Heathrow airport – the busiest stretch of the country’s busiest motorway.

Roadworks at junction 6 on the M6 in Birmingham will also stay over the weekend.

On the railways, there will be widespread engineering works, with many trains being replaced by buses over the holiday period

Source: Tony Jones, PA. http://news.scotsman.com/