All the signs are that the festive getaway in, around and away from the UK will be the busiest of the decade, setting new records across transport pressure points.
What will it mean for your journey? The Independent has consulted dozens of organisations to curate this Christmas travel special.
Road
With commuter, business and getaway traffic combining, Friday 19 December is shaping up to be extremely busy. A two-mile tailback has been reported on the M4 towards London just north of Heathrow .
Other key locations for congestion are:
- M25, particularly between the M4 at Heathrow and the M1, plus near Bluewater in Kent
- M4 from M5 junction near Bristol to Cardiff
- M5 south of Bristol and also close to the M6 junction in the West Midlands
- M6 through the West Midlands from the M42 junction to Wolverhampton
- M60 around Manchester, near the Trafford Centre and between junction 7 (Altrincham) and the M62 junction
Assessing figures from both the AA and the RAC, the worst delays in coming days are likely to be on Saturday 20 and Monday 22 December.
The RAC says: “The single busiest day for getaways over the period is Christmas Eve, when volumes of traffic could be at their highest since Covid.” Around 4.2 million getaway journeys are expected, but regular travel will be much lighter.
In addition, the M27 in Hampshire will close between junctions 9 and 11 from 8pm on 24 December until 4am on 4 January.
Christmas Day will be the optimum driving day across the UK.
Air
On Friday 19 December, the main problems are for thousands of passengers flying between the UK and Dubai. Overnight thunderstorms and flooding have led to diversions and delays. Passengers who left Gatwick, Manchester and Newcastle airports on Thursday afternoon found their flights diverted soon after midnight to Dubai’s second airport, World Central.
Their planes sat on the ground for hours before flying on to the intended destination, Dubai International, just 28 miles away.
Flights later on Friday morning are operating typically 90 minutes behind schedule, jeopardisng connections. Under air passengers’ rights rules, travellers from the UK whose schedules are shredded are entitled to be flown to their final destination as soon as possible on any airline, and to be provided with meals and hotels until they get there.
London Heathrow, Birmingham and Manchester airports are among those expecting their busiest Christmas to date. The Independent approached all the major airports for their busiest days.
Fridays and Sundays are peaks across the board: Friday 19 December, Sunday 28 December, Friday 2 January and Sunday 4 January. Specific peaks are:
- Aberdeen: 19 December
- Bristol: Busiest day is 28 December, with 19-21 December and 27-28 December busiest for departures. Busiest arrival days are 28 December, 2 and 4 January
- Edinburgh: Before Christmas, 19 and 22 December will be busiest; peak day overall is 29 December, with 28 December and 2 January also busy
- Glasgow: 19 December
- Luton: 19 December for departures, 4 January for arrivals, with 28 December busiest overall
- Manchester: 19 and 28 December
- Southampton: 22 December
The top destinations from many airports will be:
- Alicante
- Amsterdam
- Dubai
- Dublin
- Geneva
- Tenerife
Rail
The main problems on Friday 19 December are on CrossCountry – which serves England, Wales and Scotland through its hub at Birmingham New Street. Dozens of trains have been cancelled or curtailed “due to a shortage of train drivers”.
The Independent has calculated that Saturday 20 and Monday 22 December will be the busiest days on the railways before Christmas. While individual lines are likely to vary – especially after Christmas when widespread Network Rail engineering work kicks in – passengers are more or less guaranteed an uncrowded trip on 24 and 31 December as well as New Year’s Day.
Trainline data from the past two years indicates the overall busiest hour for sheer number of passengers is 10-11am on the Saturday before Christmas. The three busiest routes are all to and from London Euston – serving Birmingham New Street, Manchester Piccadilly and Milton Keynes Central.
The optimum day to travel before Christmas in order to avoid crowding is Wednesday 24 December. Be warned, though, that services wind down early: the last London-Edinburgh train leaves at 4.30pm on Christmas Eve, while the final Newcastle–Birmingham departure is at 5.40pm.
No trains run in the UK on Christmas Day, and very few on Boxing Day.
After Christmas, there will be a surge on Saturday 27 December when intercity services are restored. Some key lines will close, putting pressure on other routes.
New Year’s Eve will be quiet, with New Year’s Day hosting fewer travellers still – though in Scotland almost no trains will run on 1 January.
Crowds will build back on Friday 2 January, with the final weekend of the festive season on Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 January involving large numbers of travellers, many of them displaced to other lines by Network Rail engineering work.
The West Coast Main Line, which connects London Euston with the West Midlands, northwest England, north Wales and southern Scotland, will be closed on the key stretch from Milton Keynes to Rugby and will remain closed up to and including 5 January for the replacement of a junction at Hanslope in Buckinghamshire.
Further north, the West Coast Main Line between Preston and Carlisle will close from New Year’s Eve to 15 January inclusive, and a shuttle service will connect the two cities via the scenic Settle and Carlisle Railway.
One of the UK’s busiest stations, London Waterloo, will be closed from the end of services on Christmas Eve to Sunday 28 December inclusive.
No trains will run on the main line between Leeds and York until the start of services on 3 January.
Bus and coach
Both Flixbus and National Express are laying on extra trips on key dates and routes, aiming especially to help passengers affected by rail engineering closures. The coach firms will be running hundreds of services on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, when few trains run.
As normal, almost all local bus services will close across the country on 25 December, apart from a few hospital services and the Isle of Wight, where the local company Southern Vectis says: “We are running a special Christmas Timetable on routes 1, 3, 5, 7 & 9”
Ferry
Doug Bannister, chief executive of the Port of Dover, says: “The weekend before Christmas is expected to be particularly busy, with peak traffic anticipated between 6am and 1pm from Friday 19 to Sunday 21 December.
“To help ensure a smooth departure, we kindly ask all customers travelling with our ferry partners not to arrive any earlier than two hours before their scheduled sailing, just as you would if departing from a UK airport, and greatly appreciate everyone’s patience should there be any additional waiting time due to the high volumes of traffic.”
Unlike aviation, there is no penalty for missing a ferry at Dover due to congestion; you will simply be rebooked on the next available sailing free of charge.
This article is kept updated with the latest information
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