The Easter getaway began in earnest yesterday afternoon as some of the 18 million motorists due to take to the roads tried to dodge the jams.
April 14, 2006 (Press Release) --
The Easter getaway began in earnest yesterday afternoon as some of the 18 million motorists due to take to the roads tried to dodge the jams.
Nonetheless, long queues were seen on major roads out of London and other cities.
Traffic was also busy on routes to the West Country and Lake District as well as to channel ports.
Trafficmaster, a traffic information company, said that some roads were at a standstill with jams on the M5 towards the South-West and a number of tailbacks, including one on the M2 in Hertfordshire and another on the M42 in the Midlands.
Last night the Highways Agency reported delays on the M25 because of a series of accidents, on the M6 in north Lancashire and on the M5 near Bristol.
"We have seen a lot of traffic during the afternoon because people have been leaving early to take full advantage of the weekend," an agency spokesman said. Easter will be the first major test of its new highway-patrol network, with 1,000 officers being deployed across the country on a bank holiday weekend for the first time under the supervision of seven control centres.
Their task is to ease traffic flow by clearing the roads after accidents. It was one of a series of congestion-busting initiatives by the agency, which removed roadworks at 27 sites for the bank holiday. For safety reasons, roadworks remained in place at 40 other locations across the country.
Seats on trains were in short supply on many routes last night, notably to Scotland and the West Country. There was also heavy demand on routes linking cities to the seaside with trains to the south coast, Scarborough and North Wales especially crowded.
Eurostar, which expects to carry 150,000 passengers over the holiday, laid on extra trains to meet demand. The company also handed out 10,000 chocolate eggs to first- class customers.
Those wanting to use the east and west coast main lines are advised to make their journeys today, with engineering works due to start on both tomorrow.
Meanwhile, those who booked foreign holidays hoping to escape the cold weather may have acted prematurely, with the temperature expected to reach 63F (16C) in southern England tomorrow.
According to the Association of British Travel Agents, demand has been brisk for breaks in traditional sunshine destinations, including Spain, the Algarve, Tunisia, Egypt and Florida. Others were opting for city breaks, with trips to Paris, Amsterdam, Dublin, Rome and New York especially popular.
Some holidaymakers appear to have been more adventurous.
For instance, flights to Beirut were nearly full with a high proportion of seats being taken up by Britons.
And British Airways, which recently launched a direct service to the Albanian capital Tirana, said that the flights were in considerable demand.
Britain's airports will be generally busy, with BAA - the body responsible for the seven largest - expecting to handle more than 2.5 million passengers over the whole Easter weekend.
The break will be the first test of BAA's attempts to speed the progress of passengers through security into the departure lounge by urging airlines to limit the number of bags that they can carry on to the plane.
Nonetheless, long queues were seen on major roads out of London and other cities.
Traffic was also busy on routes to the West Country and Lake District as well as to channel ports.
Trafficmaster, a traffic information company, said that some roads were at a standstill with jams on the M5 towards the South-West and a number of tailbacks, including one on the M2 in Hertfordshire and another on the M42 in the Midlands.
Last night the Highways Agency reported delays on the M25 because of a series of accidents, on the M6 in north Lancashire and on the M5 near Bristol.
"We have seen a lot of traffic during the afternoon because people have been leaving early to take full advantage of the weekend," an agency spokesman said. Easter will be the first major test of its new highway-patrol network, with 1,000 officers being deployed across the country on a bank holiday weekend for the first time under the supervision of seven control centres.
Their task is to ease traffic flow by clearing the roads after accidents. It was one of a series of congestion-busting initiatives by the agency, which removed roadworks at 27 sites for the bank holiday. For safety reasons, roadworks remained in place at 40 other locations across the country.
Seats on trains were in short supply on many routes last night, notably to Scotland and the West Country. There was also heavy demand on routes linking cities to the seaside with trains to the south coast, Scarborough and North Wales especially crowded.
Eurostar, which expects to carry 150,000 passengers over the holiday, laid on extra trains to meet demand. The company also handed out 10,000 chocolate eggs to first- class customers.
Those wanting to use the east and west coast main lines are advised to make their journeys today, with engineering works due to start on both tomorrow.
Meanwhile, those who booked foreign holidays hoping to escape the cold weather may have acted prematurely, with the temperature expected to reach 63F (16C) in southern England tomorrow.
According to the Association of British Travel Agents, demand has been brisk for breaks in traditional sunshine destinations, including Spain, the Algarve, Tunisia, Egypt and Florida. Others were opting for city breaks, with trips to Paris, Amsterdam, Dublin, Rome and New York especially popular.
Some holidaymakers appear to have been more adventurous.
For instance, flights to Beirut were nearly full with a high proportion of seats being taken up by Britons.
And British Airways, which recently launched a direct service to the Albanian capital Tirana, said that the flights were in considerable demand.
Britain's airports will be generally busy, with BAA - the body responsible for the seven largest - expecting to handle more than 2.5 million passengers over the whole Easter weekend.
The break will be the first test of BAA's attempts to speed the progress of passengers through security into the departure lounge by urging airlines to limit the number of bags that they can carry on to the plane.
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