Heavy traffic on UK roads as Bank Holiday getaway begins » Communities » 24dash.com

The threat of cool, showery weather failed to deter motorists who jammed roads all over the country tonight as the bank holiday weekend begun.

It had been thought that the poor weather and the economic downturn would lead to a quieter-than-usual bank holiday.

But as the first of around two million people crowded into airports to fly to warmer climes abroad, most major routes were heavy with traffic.

A Highways Agency spokesman said: "We had a quiet start on the roads this morning but it got busy form late morning and many people left work early this afternoon."

Among clogged-up routes tonight were the M5 in north Somerset, the A303 in Wiltshire, the M25 in Surrey, the M1 in Derbyshire, the A14 in Northamptonshire and the A47 in Norfolk.

Jams were also reported on the A27 in East Sussex, the A1 in Gateshead and the M27 in Hampshire.

Later in the weekend travellers will also have to put up with the closure of the M1 between junctions 32 and 35 in Yorkshire for most of Sunday while the Tinsley cooling towers are demolished.

At Heathrow - the UK's biggest airport - a total of 420,000 people were expected to travel abroad today and over the next three days, while 260,000 will fly off from Gatwick and 160,000 from Manchester.

Spain and its islands, Greece, Turkey, Cyprus and Portugal are the most popular destinations, while the top city breaks are New York, Amsterdam, Dublin and Rome.

Those due to leave Stansted airport in Essex on bank holiday Monday were facing up to the possibility of delays due to a 24-hour strike by members of the GMB union who operate luggage-scanning equipment.

However, other disputes planed at Stansted, Gatwick and Manchester airports over the holiday period and just after were called off earlier this week.

Channel Tunnel high-speed train company Eurostar announced it was carrying a record 165,000 travellers in the five-day period from yesterday to next Tuesday - an 8% rise on the total last August bank holiday.

In addition, around 400,000 people were taking ferry trips abroad or travelling by Eurotunnel over the holiday period.

Network Rail (NR) has a big programme of engineering work planned for the weekend and this will affect a number of services.

More than 4,000 engineers will be working at seven major locations covering over 130 miles of the London to Scotland West Coast Main Line.

NR warned that there would be "significant changes to timetables over the coming two weeks" on the West Coast line which is operated by Virgin Trains, with the work also affecting London Midland services.

Virgin Trains managing director Chris Gibb said: "I would like to apologise to all our customers who will experience disruption over the bank holiday weekend."

On the roads, the Highways Agency has lifted a number of roadworks on England's motorways and major A roads for the holiday period but they remain in place at some busy spots including the M1 in the Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire area.

The RAC warned that traffic could be swelled by the numerous music festivals and other events around the country.

These include events at Leeds and Reading as well as the Notting Hill Carnival in west London.

Cautious forecasters were only prepared to say that the weather would be "not too bad" over the holiday.

Tony Conlan of MeteoGroup UK said: "Sunday looks like being the nicest day. Tomorrow there's a bit of an east-west divide, with central and easterly areas getting mainly dry and sunny weather but western ones possibly getting rain.

"Top temperatures on Saturday and Sunday will be about 22C (71F). Much of the UK will be dry and sunny on Sunday but there could be showers in north west England, western Scotland and Northern Ireland.

"On bank holiday there could be a band of rain in northern areas which will move south. For southern areas it will be mainly dry."