Many schools across the UK finish for the Easter holidays on Friday 4 April, with most planning holidays right through to Easter Monday, 21 April. During those 18 days, there will be severe delays on some roads and motorways.
Key intercity rail links will be interrupted by planned Network Rail engineering work, especially over Easter. Airlines are warning of the most delayed flights in a quarter-century, as air traffic control centres struggle with staff shortages. And ferry passengers may encounter delays – returning from France.
These are the key pain points for Easter travellers.
Road
The RAC predicts 21 million “getaway journeys” will be made over the coming weekend, in addition to normal traffic. The worst delays are predicted for Friday 4 and Saturday 5 April.
Based on previous experience, The Independent expects the heaviest traffic on four key arteries:
- M6 anywhere north of Birmingham, especially Preston and beyond as holidaymakers head for Blackpool and the Lake District.
- M5 southwest from Birmingham to Bristol and Exeter
- A303 southwest through Wiltshire
- M25 particularly between the M23 and M40 junctions to the southwest, and the Dartford Crossing to the east.
RAC breakdown spokesperson Alice Simpson urged motorists to ensure their vehicles are in good condition. She said: “With a massive 21 million journeys expected this weekend, it’s more than likely that roads to popular holiday destinations will see their fair share of traffic. These are not only tiring to endure but increase fuel consumption significantly.
“In the worst-case scenario, riding the clutch in stop-start traffic can increase wear on its components and lead to premature failure. Also, in slow-moving traffic, the airflow into the engine compartment is reduced and can cause overheating issues, especially in older vehicles or those with faulty cooling fans.”
Rail
Passengers across Britain face chaos over the Easter weekend due to Network Rail engineering projects closing key lines.
The West Coast main line is closed at London Euston from Saturday 19 to Monday 21 April. Even on Good Friday, the Avanti West Coast service connecting London Euston with the West Midlands, northwest England, North Wales and southern Scotland, will be reduced.
Network Rail says: “Renewals of overhead lines, switches and crossings, and drainage work to improve reliability, means services between London Euston and Milton Keynes Central will be disrupted.” Buses will connect Bedford – served by Thameslink and East Midlands Railway – with Milton Keynes Central, from where reduced services will run.
Further north on the West Coast main line, nothing will run from Carlisle into Scotland due to track replacement work from Saturday to Monday. The Caledonian Sleeper will be re-routed via the East Coast main line to and from London King’s Cross,
HS2 – the controversial, delayed and curtailed line intended to link London with Birmingham – is causing the closure of the Chiltern Railways line between London Marylebone and Aylesbury. A bridge is being installed between Great Missenden and Aylesbury.
London Paddington, hub for the Great Western Network, will also see sharp reductions in capacity with two of the four lines running west to Reading closed over the Easter weekend.
The Heathrow Express will be reduced from every 15 minutes to half-hourly.
Journeys to and from London Paddington are expected to take longer because of congestion.
Elsewhere, the half of London Victoria station that serves Southeastern destinations across Kent will be closed through the entire Easter holiday weekend. While some passengers will be able to use other London terminals, the key link from Canterbury to Ramsgate, serving the holiday resorts of Margate and Broadstairs, is closing with bus replacement services.
Across in East Sussex, the resorts of Eastbourne, Bexhill and Hastings will have their train service replaced by buses.
Passengers heading from the other half of Victoria to Gatwick airport and Brighton will find services reduced due to work on the line to Clapham Junction.
Stansted airport’s CrossCountry link to and from Cambridge will close from Good Friday to Easter Monday, but the Stansted Express line to London Liverpool Street should run as normal.
Holy Week, the build-up to Easter, will see no trains from Southampton to Fareham or from Cardiff Queen Street to Cardiff Bay, from Monday 14 to Friday 18 April.
Air
The summer schedules take effect this week, with more than 70 new routes being launched before Easter to and from the UK.
But with air traffic control centres across Europe still chronically short of staff, holidaymakers face the worst disruption caused by congestion in the skies in a quarter-century.
Ryanair says 36.2 million of its passengers have been impacted by air traffic control restrictions in the last year, with more than 200,000 flights delayed. Travellers to and from France and Spain are worst affected.
Ben Smith, chief executive of Air France-KLM, said last week: “The shortage of air traffic controllers [in France] is 20-25 per cent, which means many of our flights are going to be delayed, and we already know this.”
Luton airport, which has seen expansion this week with the launch of Jet2, will have no trains from London over the next two weekends – 5-6 and 12-13 April – due to engineering work.
Ferry
In previous years, Dover has been the scene of severe delays at the start of the Easter holidays, as coaches converge on the UK’s main ferry port. Passport checks for France are conducted at the port before travellers board ferries.
P&O Ferries, which links Dover with Calais, has introduced a new advance-passenger information system for school groups that “eliminates the need for extensive checks at Dover, ensuring smoother journeys for school coaches as they prepare to sail to France”.
The failure of the European Union to introduce the entry-exit scheme as expected in 2024 means journeys should be smoother, with no need for vehicle occupants to be fingerprinted or photographed.
The biggest problem faced by motorists could be returning from Dunkirk and Calais to Dover.
Congestion may be triggered by foreign visitors to the UK being unaware that, from 2 April, they will need an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) permit to visit. They will be able to apply for one on the spot, but this may increase congestion at UK Border Control, which is carried out at the French ports.
