UK travel news – live updates: Christmas rush to spark busy weekend for roads and airports

This week is set to be the busiest for Christmas travel on the roads and at UK airports. 

Friday 21 December is set to be the busiest day for travel at UK airports, with more than 100,000 travellers flying out of the UK's biggest airport, London Heathrow, on this day – working out at 100 passengers every minute.

Sunday 23 December will be the busiest travel day at Gatwick and Stansted, as travellers jet off for Christmas.

There are strikes on the London Underground this weekend, expected to be one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year.

The Central line, London's busiest tube line, will close on Friday 21 December from around 21.00. It will be closed all day on Saturday 22 December and will resume service at around midnight for the night tube.

The Waterloo & City line will shut at 21.00 on Friday 21 December and resume services again on the morning of Monday 24 December.

Additionally, there will be strikes on the Bakerloo line over Christmas. Staff at key stations will walk out on 26 December and again on 13-14 January.

Click here to read our guide to the strikes and closures affecting London travel this Christmas.

Drivers should expect delays of up to three hours on Thursday 20 December, as Christmas traffic congestion peaks.

As many as 20 million journeys will take place this week in the run-up to Christmas, according to research from the RAC and travel analytic specialist INRIX.

The RAC is warning drivers using the M25, M6 and M40 in particular, between Wednesday 19 and Friday 21 December, that they should plan for delays. 

There will also be strikes affecting Virgin Atlantic flights over the Christmas period.

Virgin Atlantic pilots who are members of the Professional Pilots Union (PPU) will strike over Christmas, the union has announced.

Walkouts are planned for 22 to 25 December, 30 December to 2 January and 4 to 7 January inclusive.

Yesterday the airline revealed plans to charter extra jets ahead of the pilot walkout.

Travellers looking to use Northern Rail train services to get home for Christmas or to return after the holidays will be scuppered on Saturday 22 and Saturday 29 December, thanks to a strike by RMT Union members.

The one-day walkouts will see approximately 700 services running each day, but very few trains after 5pm. Northern services that do run, along with other operators’ services, are expected to be extremely busy as the build-up to Christmas continues.

Northern has called for RMT to suspend its December strike action and return to talks at ACAS.

“This targeted action disrupts our customers’ lives. But, as we enter a vital period for businesses, it also damages the economic wellbeing of the north of England," said David Brown, MD at Northern.

“We have fantastic colleagues who have supported customers by keeping our trains running on each of the RMT strike days. We are aiming to keep as many people moving as possible and ensuring customers can still travel into the biggest towns and cities for the big seasonal events including Christmas markets – but with very few services running after 5pm.

“We expect all of our services, and those of other operators, to be extremely busy and are calling on our customers to plan their travel carefully for the coming weekend, check the new timetables well in advance, and make sure they do not rely on the last trains home.”

Passengers are advised to check the Northern website for exact timetable changes.

"Cold and soggy" weather this week could hamper Christmas journeys home.

Temperatures will stay mild for the time of year, but the north and west of the country is likely to be wet and windy on Christmas Eve, according to the Met Office.

“At this stage we’ve got a fairly unsettled week to come, but as we approach Christmas Eve and Christmas Day it looks like it will be drier and brighter,” Met Office meteorologist Greg Dewhurst told The Independent.

Christmas journeys from Gatwick Airport have been thrown into disarray over the past 24 hours, following reports of drones over the airport perimeter fence.

Flights in and out of the busy London airport were suspended at about 9pm last night when drones were sighted near the airfield. 

Gatwick announced that the runway had reopened at about 3am this morning, but just 45 minutes later it was shut again following further sightings.

Around 10,000 passengers have been affected.

Follow our live blog here. 

Workers on South Western Railway will walk out for 24 hours this Saturday 22 December, in a long-running dispute over guards on trains.

The one-day walkout, on the last Saturday before Christmas, is expected to cause disruption to thousands as people travel home for the festive break or fit in last-minute Christmas shopping.

There are further strikes on South Western Railway on Thursday 27 December and Monday 31 December.

If your flight from Gatwick to Edinburgh has been cancelled because of the drones flying overhead, LNER is offering a free ticket home on one of its trains today.

A new winter campaign reminding passengers not to have too many drinks before they fly this weekend launches tomorrow.

The campaign, called 'One Too Many', is backed by 13 UK airports to remind the expected 4.5 million passengers to "behave responsibly or risk stiff penalties".

The campaign will be launched on social media tomorrow, as well on screens throughout the airports.

In November, the government launched a "call for evidence" into alcohol sales at airports, to review whether airports should match the rules that govern high street pubs and restaurants, which restrict alcohol sales before 10am.