Training | 2009.08.28
Delays as bank holiday getaway begins
• Heavy traffic on routes to Cornwall and Devon and on M25
• AA warns Leeds festival-goers over satnav misdirections
• Map: bank holiday troublespots (pdf)
Britain\'s roads are bearing the brunt of the bank holiday exodus this evening, living up to predictions that this weekend would see the busiest traffic of the year. Traffic on the M5 was brought to a standstill when police closed the motorway after an apparent suicide bid from a bridge.
Vehicles started stacking up after police decided to close the motorway on the Northbound carriageway between junction 19 at Portishead and junction 18 at Avonmouth at around 2pm.
Long traffic queues have built up and are reported to be stretching back to junction 21 of the M5 at Weston Super Mare.
Queues before junction 18 were said to be up to nine miles long, with the Highways Agency advising drivers to expect long delays and to avoid the area.
The AA had predicted that 14m cars would be on the roads over the weekend.
Another disruptive hold-up was on the M25 in Surrey, which delayed Gatwick airport-bound holidaymakers who were among the 1.9 million Britons flying abroad. Meanwhile, almost 12 million Britons are expected to travel within the UK over the period.
Another serious accident led to the westbound closure of a section of the M58 near Skelmersdale in Lancashire. Two lanes of the M62 were closed in Greater Manchester, while there was also heavy traffic reported on the northern part of the M25, the A303 near Stonehenge in Wiltshire, the M23 in Surrey and the M4 in Berkshire. Motoring groups warned that major routes would remain busy over the weekend, while train travellers were having to contend with a number of rail engineering works, including 42 on Sunday alone.
The AA warned people travelling to the Leeds festival , which starts today, to double-check which junction to leave the motorway on, after receiving reports of drivers getting lost when directed the wrong way by their satellite navigation systems. Many satnavs are not yet up to date with recent junction renumbering on the A1 in Yorkshire.
BAA forecast that 50,000 fewer people than last year would use its seven UK airports, which include Heathrow, Stansted and Gatwick. "There is less business travel over the bank holiday period, but you would expect there to be some reflection of the economic circumstances in the bank holiday figures," said a spokesman.
Music festivals
The AA said the number of events scheduled over the weekend could add to travel woes.
"As well as families heading off before schools go back, there\'s also a full schedule of music festivals, airshows, sports fixtures and other major events," said the AA\'s Stewart Topp.
In addition to the Leeds and Reading music festivals, which started today with Kings of Leon, Arctic Monkeys and Radiohead headlining over the next three nights, an estimated 1 million revellers are expected at London\'s Notting Hill carnival over Sunday and Monday.
The problems are expected to worsen towards the end of the weekend. "The worst of the traffic will be when people head home on bank holiday Monday evening and then return to work on the Tuesday," said Topp.
The Highways Agency, which operates Britain\'s motorway network, said more than 50 sets of roadworks had been either completed or suspended before the weekend, but warned that routes to all major ports and holiday destinations would be busy.
Despite the engineering works, less disruption was expected on the railways, with more than 3,500 more trains running than last year. National Rail warned though that all long-distance rail services, especially to Scotland and the West Country, were expected to be busier than usual as people escape the cities. Train operators expect around 8 million passengers to travel on more than 70,000 train services over the bank holiday weekend, with long-distance operators expecting Friday and Monday to be the busiest days.
Overseas bookings The Office for National Statistics published figures this month showing that trips abroad by UK residents dropped by 17% in the first half of the year as people opted for "staycations". Travel agents\' organisation Abta claimed that there had been a late surge in Britons booking overseas trips for the bank holiday, although BAA\'s traffic numbers suggest a decline in charter flights.
Eurostar estimated it would carry 140,000 passengers between yesterday and Tuesday – with almost half of those travelling into the UK. The company said the strength of the euro meant many Europeans were using the weekend to visit London in particular.
It will be a good weekend for sport, with Manchester United playing Arsenal at Old Trafford on Saturday and England\'s cricketers taking on Australia in the Twenty20 Cup in Manchester on Monday – not to mention the world gravy wrestling championship in Stacksteads, Lancashire, also on Monday.
Forecasters have warned we should not to expect too much from the weather, with temperatures in most of the country staying low, between 16C and 19C.
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/aug/28/bank-holiday-getaway-roads-traffic
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