Easter travel chaos warning: Drivers warned of disruption over Bank Holiday weekend

15 April 2022, 11:46 | Updated: 15 April 2022, 11:51

Bank Holiday travellers are being warned to expect delays on what is set to be the busiest day of road travel across the Easter weekend.

The RAC believes nearly 5m car journeys are due to be made today alone - part of a total 21.4m trips across the Bank Holiday.

Rail disruption is expected to add to traffic, and there are reports of long queues at Dover, where P&O services are still suspended.

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

Stansted airport urged passengers to consider dropping their bags off 24 hours early to avoid queues. Gatwick is advising people to turn up three hours early for long-haul flights and two and a half hours early for short haul.

Read more: UK Bank Holiday weather: Sunny 23C long weekend to be 'hotter than Ibiza'

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.