Millions of Brits to hit roads today as Easter travel carnage gets under way

There are estimated to be 4.62 million journeys made on UK roads today with Good Friday expected to be the busiest day for traffic over the Easter holiday period

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Met Office warns Easter travellers about potential queues

Brits are set to hit the roads in their millions on Good Friday leading to travel chaos as they head out to take advantage of the hot weather.

Today is expected to be the busiest day of the Easter holidays with an estimated 4.62 million journeys likely to be made across the UK.

But there are also estimated to be a further 22.48 million journeys being made over the bank holiday weekend in what could be the busiest in years, says the RAC.

Delays have hit trips by land, sea and air in recent days and they are only going to get worse over the weekend.

More problems are predicted following travel chaos on Thursday – as well as passengers at airports and train stations left waiting for hours in long queues.

Many reported hour-long waits at Manchester and Birmingham airports, while dozens of British Airways and easyJet flights have been cancelled at Heathrow.

Meanwhile, those at London St Pancras said they were standing in long queues for services to Europe on Thursday morning.

Rail passengers have also been warned of further delays as Network Rail carries out 530 engineering projects costing a total of £83 million over the weekend.

These include the closure of the West Coast Main Line between London Euston and Milton Keynes for four days from Good Friday due to upgrades of the existing line and HS2 work.

Parts of the railway between Birmingham International station and Coventry will also be closed, as will lines around Crewe station.

Dover-Calais sailings by P&O Ferries were also still suspended as of Thursday night, which caused large queues of lorries forming on roads approaching the Port of Dover throughout the day.

On top of all the travel disruption, supplies of petrol and diesel at filling stations in some areas of the country have been at around half their usual level as the UK’s travel network comes under pressure.

Motorists have been advised to travel on Thursday or early on Saturday if they can, to give themselves the best chance of avoiding long queues on the roads.

Edmund King, AA president, said: “All our polling suggests that Good Friday will be the busiest getaway day for Easter trips and staycations. If some drivers can leave on Thursday or early Saturday, they may miss some of the jams.”

The motoring organisation also estimated that, with higher fuel prices, a 500-mile round trip will see drivers paying £20 more at the pumps than they did last Easter.