Bank holiday getaway: Warning over severe congestion on M6 and M5 and major disruption on the trains
Drivers are being warned over long delays on major routes, such as the M6 and M5, as 17.6 million getaway trips by car are expected to take place in the UK before and over the weekend.
The RAC, which issued the alert, urged drivers to set off as early as possible or “be prepared to spend longer in traffic”.
And there will be major disruption on the trains as engineering work impacts on services to and from the West Midlands,
Some three million journeys for holidays or day trips are expected to be made on Friday by drivers looking to make the most of the last long weekend before Christmas in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the RAC said. This rises to 3.4 million on Saturday, 2.4 million on Sunday and 2.7 million on Monday.
The RAC said an additional 6.1 million drivers are planning a leisure trip at some point between Friday and Monday.
The figures are based on responses to a survey of 2,080 UK adults, extrapolated to the 34 million cars licensed in the UK.
On the roads:
Transport analytics company Inrix predicted people travelling south from the West Midlands on the M5 will have the most severe getaway traffic, with the stretch from junction 15 north of Bristol to junction 23 for Bridgwater in Somerset likely to see delays of more than 40 minutes on Friday and Saturday.
The M6/M5 junction in the West Midlands is also expected to be congested, and the RAC has also warned of busy A-roads towards North Wales as people from our region travel to Snowdonia and popular resorts like Barmouth and Aberystwyth.
Elsewhere in the UK, hold-ups exceeding half an hour are forecast on Friday on the M20 in Kent, which is a route taken by a large proportion of vehicles making Channel crossings via Dover or Folkestone.
RAC team leader Nick Mullender said: “With this bank holiday being the last opportunity to enjoy a long weekend before Christmas, our study shows a real eagerness to get out and about with nearly 18 million drivers planning getaway trips.
“More traffic on the roads will inevitably lead to more vehicle breakdowns, especially if the sun makes an appearance and people decide on the day to visit popular destinations.
“We’re expecting major roads to airports and coastal destinations to be extremely busy. Anyone planning routes through these areas should set off as early as possible or be prepared to spend longer in traffic.”
On the railways:
Rail passengers are being warned that some major routes will be closed for engineering work as Network Rail conducts 261 projects across Britain.
Avanti West Coast will operate a reduced and amended service to and from London Euston.
No services will operate between Birmingham New Street and Birmingham International between Saturday and Monday.
Affected Avanti West Coast and CrossCountry services will be diverted, extending journey times, while London Northwestern services will run to and from Birmingham International only.
Helen Hamlin, Network Rail’s chief network operator, said: “With the August bank holiday weekend approaching, we’ve carefully planned our engineering work to minimise disruption, allowing people to rely on the railway and make the most of the late summer bank holiday weekend.
“While the vast majority of the railway will be running, works on some parts of the network are unfortunately unavoidable, as we complete major work to support a better, more reliable railway that we wouldn’t be able to complete in a normal weekend.
“So we’re asking passengers to check their journeys in advance to ensure their route isn’t affected.”
At the airport:
Birmingham Airport is expecting one of its busiest weekends of the year, which comes after its busiest ever July with 1.5 million passengers. It is benefiting from a new security hall and relaxed rules on liquids.
The figure for July was bolstered by the start of the school summer holidays, as well as increased frequencies to popular routes. Birmingham Airport says it remains on track to experience its busiest year ever with nearly 14 million passengers forecast to travel through the transport hub in 2025/26.
The most popular destinations this weekend are expected to be sunshine spots such as Palma de Mallorca, Alicante, Dalaman, and Faro. Other busy routes include Dublin, Dubai and Amsterdam.
As part of improvement works, the airport has unveiled modern new-look boarding gate lounges to support with passenger flow and on-time departures. Future developments at BHX will include expanded baggage carousels, new airside concessions and refurbished terminal spaces.
Al Titterington, Terminal Operations Director of Birmingham Airport said: “July was another record month with more passengers choosing Birmingham Airport than ever before. This is our fifth consecutive record-breaking month this year, with passengers taking advantage of our array of routes offered by our partner airlines, offering more choice and convenience for travel. During July alone we saw over 1.4m pass through our airport, benefiting from connectivity to our extensive route network from Birmingham Airport.”
