Easter travel: Drivers and train passengers warned of disruptionon April 15, 2022 at 7:39 am

Drivers are being warned to expect delays on what is predicted to be the busiest day for road travel of the Easter weekend.

The RAC estimates around 4.62 million journeys are likely across the UK on Good Friday, with a further 22.48 million across the bank holiday.

The motoring group said disruption to trains due to engineering works could also push more people onto the roads.

Rail routes including the West Coast Main Line are among those affected.

Rod Dennis from the RAC advised drivers to set off early, with roads expected to get busier towards the middle of the day.

“Expect your journey, especially if you’re going any distance, to take longer than it normally would,” he told the BBC’s Today programme.

Meanwhile, rail passengers are facing delays and cancellations, with Network Rail carrying out 530 engineering projects across the bank holiday weekend, costing a total of £83m.

No trains will run in or out of Euston station in London until the end of Monday, which is likely to disrupt football fans going to the FA Cup semi-finals at Wembley.

Trains to to the West Midlands, north-west England and parts of Scotland will instead start from Milton Keynes Central.

There will be also be no Southern services to and from London Victoria all weekend, nor any direct trains from London to Stansted Airport.

Alternative services are expected to be busy and Network Rail has advised people to travel either side of the bank holiday.

Disruption is also continuing at the Port of Dover.

P&O Ferries’ Dover-Calais services remain suspended, nearly a month after the company sacked around 800 workers without notice.

Two of the company’s ferries which normally serve the route are still detained after they failed safety inspections.

Bad weather, the Easter holidays and problems with an IT system for customs checks following Brexit have also contributed to congestion around Dover in recent days.

This has led to long queues for lorries crossing the Channel.

Operation Brock, where lorries heading to Dover queue on one side of the M20, was put in place last week to help manage the traffic.

However, National Highways said it had now been scaled back as the threat of disruption had reduced.

Junctions 10a and 11 on the coastbound M20 reopened on Friday, with junctions 8 and 9 expected to follow.

Richard Ballantyne, chief executive of the British Ports Association, said the queues around Dover had now eased.

“In terms of the Easter getaway, it was worse two weekends ago and last weekend,” he told the BBC.

Mr Ballantyne said the decision by ferry company DFDS last weekend to say it could no longer accommodation P&O ticket-holders, whilst frustrating for customers, had “kept a chunk of people away”.