Millions hit UK roads, railways and airports for Christmas Eve getaway | Transport
Travel this Christmas Eve could be Britain’s busiest yet, with millions of motorists hitting the roads and hundreds of thousands of passengers boarding planes for festive getaways.
It is estimated that train services will be quite busy and railway services will end earlier than normal.
Christmas Eve traffic is expected to reach its highest level since the Covid pandemic, with popular routes likely to be busier than usual between 11am and 7pm, according to the RAC, which predicts there will be 4.2 million motorists on the roads.
The service and repair company said the worst time to travel would be between 1pm and 7pm.
The RAC said more than 37 million people were expected to make road trips to visit friends and family in the week leading up to Christmas. This is the highest level since 2013, when the figures began to be recorded.
The RAC expects the most congested areas on Christmas Eve to be along the M25, clockwise from Junction 15 to Junction 19 to Watford for the M4, and counterclockwise from Junction 10 to Kingston and Junction 6 to East Grinstead.
He added that Manchester was also expected to be busy on the M60 clockwise from junction 7 to Altrincham and junction 18 for the M62 to Leeds.
Road closures may cause journeys to take longer than usual: From Christmas Eve, the M27 in Hampshire will be closed in both directions between Junction 9 and Junction 11 from 8pm until 4am on 4 January.
The last train from London to Edinburgh leaves at 16.30 on Christmas Eve, while the last train from Newcastle to Birmingham leaves at 17.40. There are no trains on Christmas Day and very few trains run on Boxing Day.
Meanwhile, record numbers of people are taking to the skies this festive season; The Civil Aviation Authority estimates that 3 million people will fly out of UK airports in the week leading up to Christmas.
Heathrow, along with airports in Birmingham and Manchester, said it was expecting its busiest Christmas ever.
Buses are also expected to be busy on Christmas Day, with journeys expected to reach their highest level in a decade, according to industry body the Confederation of Passenger Transport. It is estimated that more than 100,000 people will take a local bus trip on December 25 this year; This number is slightly higher than last year and more than 87,000 in 2023.
