Travel news live: Christmas getaway delays as snow hits M62 and trains, ferries and flights cancelled

Nearly 3 million trips are predicted to take place on the roads today December 20, with a “gridlock period” expected in late afternoon and early evening.

The RAC recommends festive commuters avoid major routes during these hours. Queues of more than 45 minutes are expected on the M3 between Surrey and Hampshire, on the M25 in west London, and the M1 near Watford.

Further north, the M53 northbound from Chester to Liverpool will be worst affected by delays during home-time traffic.

Amber traffic warnings have been issued by the AA for today through to Sunday.

You can still get away at a reasonable price this side of Christmas. The cheapest flight-plus-accommodation deal I have found for a week, flying away on 24 December, is just £180 per person in a four-star hotel. Per hour, that’s basically one guinea (ask an elderly relative). Spoiler alert: the deal, from easyJet Holidays, may not be the trip of your dreams. You fly on 24 December from Birmingham all the way to, er, Glasgow, and check in at the Doubletree by Hilton on the northern edge of the city centre. That’s about 200 miles closer to the North Pole than the West Midlands. And you will be flying back just as Scotland’s Hogmanay celebrations get under way on 31 December.

If a southbound trip is more enticing, British Airways Holidays has a three-night Yuletide break on the Côte d’Azur, out on Christmas Eve and back on 27 December, for £191 per person. This includes flights from London Heathrow to Nice and a stay at the three-star So’Co boutique property (which describes itself as “a subtle blend of vintage and contemporary”) and 63kg of baggage (physical, not emotional). When you arrive you will also discover the UK is an outlier in locking down on 25 December. Plenty of trains shuttle up and down the Riviera, allowing you to visit Antibes and Cannes on Christmas Day should whim or appetite take you there.

The best airfare bargain for the last week of the year, though, is Jet2 from Edinburgh to Lanzarote for an absurdly low £92 return, flying out on Christmas Eve and back to the Scottish capital on New Year’s Eve (probably crossing flightpaths with those folks who opted for the Birmingham to Glasgow adventure). How can a 3,900-mile round trip on a quality airline be so darned cheap? Because accommodation on the islands is in short supply, and therefore demand for seat-only deals is weak. This could be the year for Christmas camping in the Canaries.

The last thing anyone wants is to miss a flight just before Christmas – so The Independent's travel correspondent Simon Calder has pulled together some advice for stress-free travel during the festive period.

His key points are:

• Sort out your holiday money in advance
• Research the customs rules for your destination
• Check that you can reach the airport
• Allow for long security queues
• Wrap presents after security
• Leave Christmas crackers out
• Avoid too much celebratory booze

Read Simon Calder’s full guide on stress-free festive travel:

This week Avanti West Coast announced fresh strikes that will take place in the final hours of 2024 continuing until the late May bank holiday weekend.

The first will take place towards the end of the festive period on December 31 meaning New Year’s Eve revellers may need to seek alternative forms of transport. Further strikes are then planned for Thursday 2 January and then every Sunday between 12 January and 25 May.

Avanti West Coast centres on the West Coast main line to and from London Euston, and serves a number of main cities including Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow.

On most strike days, the company operates a skeleton service. On the core routes linking London with Birmingham and Manchester, typically one train an hour will run – compared with the normal three-per-hour schedule.

Hourly trains will also run to Liverpool via Crewe (except on 2 January, when the line through Crewe is closed), with less frequent services via Preston and Carlisle to Glasgow.

Read Simon Calder’s full breakdown of the train strikes here:

As Christmas falls on a Wednesday this year, the RAC predicts there will be an extended period of “pre-Christmas panic” on the roads as people travel up and down the motorways and roads ahead of the festive celebrations.

5.7m extra trips are expected to be taken this Wednesday and Thursday alone. The peak times are 1pm-6pm on 18 December and 8am-6pm the following day, the RAC says.

Around 29.3 million Christmas journeys will take place between Wednesday and 24 December, the RAC has estimated, with nearly half taking place on the pre-Christmas weekend alone.

Read more from Albert Toth:

The UK Civil Aviation Authority says that regulator data trends suggest airports will be even busier this month than the almost 11 million passengers who jetted off in December 2023, with the demand for flights expected to get back to pre-pandemic levels.

The Independent predicts these will be the busiest days:

• Heathrow: Friday 20 December (outbound); Friday, Saturday and Sunday 3/4/5 January (inbound).
• Gatwick, Manchester and Stansted: Saturday and Sunday 21/22 December (outbound); Saturday and Sunday 4/5 January (inbound). The intermediate weekend, 28/29 December, will be very busy.
• Luton: Friday 20 December (outbound); Fridays 27 December and 3 January (inbound).

Friday, 20 December, especially the evening rush hour, is expected to be one of the busiest times for Christmas travel on the UK’s roads and motorways.

The AA predicts that Friday will see a record 23.7 million car journeys on motorways and trunk roads.

The Met Office said that drivers should prepare for spray on the roads at times with some blustery winds in places too.

The RAC predicts there will be an extended period of “pre-Christmas panic” on the roads, with 5.7m extra trips being taken this Wednesday and Thursday alone.

The peak times are 1pm-6pm on 18 December and 8am-6pm the following day.

However, Friday 20 December is set to be the busiest day of the winter on motorways and trunk roads according to rival motoring organisation the AA, which predicts a record 23.7 million car journeys.

The organisation warns Saturday 21 and Monday 23 December will also be extremely busy, with 22.7 million on each day. The RAC, meanwhile, predicts 1-6pm on Saturday and 10am-4pm on Monday will be the busiest times.

The Independent has analysed AA figures to calculate that one in seven motorists plans to drive more than 100 miles on “frantic Friday”, 20 December.

Find out more about Christmas road congestion here:

Passengers have been warned to plan their journeys in advance as stations and services are likely to be busy in the run-up to Christmas and the New Year, with engineering work also affecting trains.

National Rail says there could be some changes to the advertised timetables, so passengers are strongly advised to check journey planners before travel and book tickets in advance wherever possible.

Due to engineering works and projects, some services will be disrupted:

• London Liverpool Street will be closed from Wednesday 25 December with services resuming on Thursday 2 January, causing various services to be redirected or terminated elsewhere.
• London Paddington also will close for three days from 27 to 29 December.
• There will be no East Midlands trains running between St Pancras and Bedford and no Thameslink services between St Pancras and Harpenden between 21 and 29 December.
• No trains will pass through Crewe on 27 December. There will be no direct service to Liverpool and there will be a reduced service to Manchester from 28 December until 3 January.
• There will be no services between both Royston/Audley End and Cambridge/Cambridge North from Wednesday 25 December to Sunday 5 January
• South Western Railway services will be altered or diverted due to engineering between Farnborough and Woking from 23 December until 5 January.

More information can be found on the Network Rail website.

As usual, train services throughout the UK will finish earlier than normal on 24 December, and there will be no National Rail services on Christmas Day. On Boxing Day, most train operators will not be running any trains, but a small number of operators will be running limited services.

On Saturday 21 December from 7am to midnight, the Met Office has yellow weather warnings for strong winds in place for much of the northern UK.

The warnings cover all of Scotland (apart from Shetland), northern England west of the Pennines (including Manchester airport), the North Wales coast and the northern half of Northern Ireland.

The Met Office says for western Scotland: “Very strong westerly winds are expected to develop through the course of Saturday in association with a deep area of low pressure, with gusts of 65-75 mph expected.

There is a small chance that gusts in excess of 80 mph could occur across this region.

“Dangerous coastal conditions can be expected too, with large waves an additional hazard, especially in respect to causeways.”

On Sunday, the warning changes to cover the whole of the west of the UK – west of a line through Leeds, Birmingham and Southampton.

From midnight to 9pm on Sunday, prospective travellers are warned: “A prolonged period of strong winds will likely lead to some disruption over the weekend, especially to travel.

“Some delays to road, rail, air and ferry transport are likely.

“It’s likely that some coastal routes, sea fronts and coastal communities will be affected by spray and/or large waves.

“Probably some bus and train services affected, with some journeys taking longer.”