Christmas travel live: Motorway gridlock fears as 16.4m to hit road and drivers warned of Dover chaos

Drivers are set to face Christmas travel chaos[1] as 16.4 million drivers hit the roads and two major London railway stations are closed tomorrow. Train disruption is likely on Christmas Eve as two of London’s railway stations, King’s Cross and Paddington[2], will be shut due to engineering works.The closure of London Paddington will continue until Wednesday, meaning no mainline trains will serve Heathrow Airport. Motorists have been advised not drive before 11am or after 6pm today to reduce the chances of being stuck on the road.[3]

The AA has issued an Amber Traffic Warning for today with millions of cars expected to travel on this day, causing lengthy jams [4]at traffic hotspots. The AA president[5] Edmund King said: “While Friday 22 December and Saturday 23 December look set to be the busiest travelling days, the unsettled weather forecast could lead to additional delays so drivers should drive to the conditions and slow down where necessary.

Key Points

• Motorists advised to avoid roads between 11am and 6pm

• 60 minutes wait time at port of Denver

• What’s happening on the trains?

Wait time at Dover now zero

15:17 , Lydia Patrick Good news for those crossing the channel- the queues have finally subsided.

There remains no wait time at French border controls. Wishing all our passengers a pleasant transit and safe onward journey this Christmas ? — Port of Dover Travel (@PoD_travelnews) December 23, 2023[6]

The busiest day of the year to travel

15:00 , Lydia Patrick

The AA has issued an Amber Traffic Warning today with more than 16.4 million cars expected to travel on this day, causing lengthy jams at traffic hotspots. The AA president Edmund King said: “While Friday 22 December and Saturday 23 December look set to be the busiest travelling days, the unsettled weather forecast could lead to additional delays so drivers should drive to the conditions and slow down where necessary.” Story continues

Still a 90-minute wait at Port of Dover

14:30 , Lydia Patrick

Drivers are still waiting in 90-minute-long queues to reach the Port of Dover.

Watch – Christmas travel chaos in full swing as queues build at Port of Dover

13:45 , Lydia Patrick

Rail disruption between Peterborough and Stevenage

13:38 , Lydia Patrick Passengers travelling on services out of London between Peterborough and Stevenage may face disruption or delays due to a tree touching overhead signalling wires.

Kent residents share their annoyance

12:45 , Lydia Patrick The delays are a familiar state of affairs for Dover residents.

Many have taken to Facebook to share their annoyance. Jan Hill said: Every year we encounter this mayhem.

Why do they do this and make all the long distance drivers wait at the side of the road? Shouldn’t they prepare more ferries and run more routes to prevent this. Dover deserves so much better.

The HGV drivers should be priorities. They have families they don’t see for weeks on end because they have to work. Their families and the HGV drivers deserve to be together for the holidays.

We also should give them more stations to stop safely, that provide hot meals, drinks, toilet and washing facilities. They are humans and should be treated as such. Jan Hill

Where are the road delays?

12:12 , Lydia Patrick

Unsettled weather is likely to add to journey times on some stretches of the motorway network including the M25, the M5 between Bristol and Weston-Super-Mare and the M6 around Birmingham. In addition, stretches of the M1 ‘smart’ motorway from Luton northwards can often suffer congestion from incidents or breakdowns, as can the M62 and M60 in the North West. Both the M4 and the A34 are also set to suffer from significant delays.

Rail disruption continues

11:30 , Lydia Patrick

The rail disruption is set to continue on Christmas Eve as London King’s Cross will be closed due to engineering works. The closure of London Paddington will continue until Wednesday, meaning no mainline trains will serve Heathrow Airport. Shadow transport minister Louise Haigh said the infrastructure has been “totally underinvested in”, causing “record delays and cancellations”.

She told Times Radio on Saturday that anyone who has tried to catch a train in the last couple of years will “almost certainly” have experienced delays, cancellations and poor service because the Government has “presided over the managed decline of our railways and has been totally prepared to accept status quo”. Ms Haigh said the Labour Party has set out plans to reform railways to bring them into public ownership and “to bring decisions around infrastructure and the operations of the railways together”.

Labour has pledged to support drivers through the cost-of-living crisis (Brian Lawless/PA Images) (PA Archive)

‘Kids are crying’ – Traveller shares her annoyance from Dover queue

11:14 , Lydia Patrick Maeve Patterson who is travelling through the Port of Dover took to X to share her irritation whilst waiting in line.

Why are your staff at Dover only moving vehicles in 2 out of the approx 7 lanes , with no explanations to all of us stuck here. Kids are crying and it is as ever a total mess – no information or coordinated management in line with booked boats …. Anyone here to support?

— Maeve Patterson (@maeve_patterson) December 23, 2023[7]

Dover queueing time reaches 90 minutes

11:07 , Lydia Patrick People travelling over to France for Christmas can expect an even longer wait. The Port of Dover shared on X: “There is currently a 90-minute wait time ahead of French border controls as we help passengers get away for Christmas.

Please check with your chosen ferry operator for further travel updates.”

Pictured: Port of Dover travel chaos

10:29 , Lydia Patrick

Traffic queues for ferries at the Port of Dover in Kent as people travel to their destinations for the Christmas period (Gareth Fuller/PA Wire)

Traffic queues for ferries at the Port of Dover in Kent as people travel to their destinations for the Christmas period. (Gareth Fuller/PA Wire)

Traffic queues for ferries at the Port of Dover in Kent as people travel to their destinations for the Christmas perio (Gareth Fuller/PA Wire)

Remnants of Storm Pia could lead to further disruption

10:15 , Lydia Patrick The Met Office has warned there could be more weather-related travel issues in parts of the UK this weekend. Christmas Eve travel plans could be ruined with heavy winds set to batter parts of the country ahead of a rain-soaked December 25.

Gusts as high as 60 to 70 mph are due to hit the north of Scotland and northern and central areas of England. Two separate yellow wind warnings have been issued, saying people should expect travel disruption, damage to buildings and power cuts, while the rest of the country may see showers. A yellow warning for rain covers much of Wales, with forecasters warning flooding and travel disruption is possible.

Weather warnings in place for Saturday 23 (The Met Office)

What’s happening on the trains?

09:30 , Lydia Patrick

Passengers have faced severe delays this week due to Storm Pia, here is the railway situation today. Network Rail warned severe weather was likely to impact some ScotRail routes. Eurostar, which operates passenger services to and from London St Pancras, is operating two extra services per day between London and Paris up to and including Christmas Eve to help people whose trains were cancelled on Thursday.

Vehicle-carrying train service Eurotunnel is running its usual timetable but is only accepting customers who have pre-booked. The Elizabeth line suffered severe delays on Friday afternoon between London Paddington, Reading and Heathrow Airport after two trains broke down. Network Rail said disruption was expected between Mansfield and Worksop for the end of the day, as well as between Birmingham New Street and Lichfield Trent Valley, caused by damage to the overhead electric wires in the Aston area of Birmingham.

Motorway closures

08:54 , Lydia Patrick

The A66 in Cumbria is closed in both directions between the A595 south (Bridgefoot) and the A595 north (Cockermouth) due to a serious collision. Traffic has been diverted via local routes causing delays. The M20 motorway in Kent has reopened between junctions 8 and 9 after it was closed due to Operation Brock, which involves organising a queue for freight traffic during disruption to cross-Channel services.

60 minutes wait time at port of Denver

08:00 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Travellers making cross-Channel journeys at the port of Dover have been urged to prepare for potential long waits as Christmas getaway disruption continues across the country. P&O Ferries said there were estimated wait times of 60 minutes at border control. The port has attributed the delay to a surge in demand for ferries after the Channel Tunnel rail link was closed on Thursday due to unscheduled industrial action by French workers, which ruined the travel plans of tens of thousands of people.

The ferry company advised travellers in a post on X: “There is an estimated wait time of 60mins to reach border control after entering the port. “There are limited toilet facilities, we recommend stopping en route. “Please come prepared with refreshments to make your wait more comfortable.

Thank you for your patience.”

Northern parts of UK to face rain and snow

07:00 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar Scotland on Saturday would be lashed with rain and snow in the north, leading to some icy stretches. The snow is expected to reach Northern Ireland and northern England later in the day, the Met Office predicts.

Southern parts of the country would be drier with bright or sunny spells, although it would be windy. Generally windy and rather cloudy overnight, according to the Met Office. “Rain mostly in the west, particularly persistent for northwest England and west Wales.”

Yellow warning extended till Saturday afternoon

06:00 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar The yellow weather warning for snow and ice for north and northeast Scotland has been extended till Saturday afternoon.

“The warning cessation time has been extended into Saturday afternoon and now finishes at 3pm,” it said in an update.

Motorists advised to avoid roads between 11am and 6pm

05:09 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar Motorists have been advised to travel before 11am or after 6pm to reduce the chances of being stuck on the road. The RAC estimated 13.5 million leisure journeys by car would take place across the UK between Friday and Sunday, up 20 per cent on the three days before Christmas Day last year.

Storm Pia has unleashed Christmas travel chaos as flights are grounded due to high winds, after a sudden French strike forced the Eurotunnel to close on Thursday.

More car journeys than last Christmas

05:00 , Jane Dalton The RAC estimated 13.5 million leisure journeys by car would take place across the UK between Friday and Sunday, up 20 per cent on the three days before Christmas Day last year. Motorists were advised to travel before 11am or after 6pm if possible to reduce the chance of being stuck in long queues.

(Getty Images)

Recap: Transport disrupted and trees uprooted as Storm Pia pummels UK

04:00 , Jane Dalton

In Pictures: Transport disrupted and trees uprooted as Storm Pia pummels UK[8]

London’s Euston waits: in pictures

02:50 , Jane Dalton

(EPA)

(EPA)

Passengers wait for train services from Euston Station (EPA)

Winds and rain predicted to spoil Christmas

00:55 , Jane Dalton

The Met Office has warned there could be more weather-related travel hold-ups in parts of the UK this weekend. Christmas Eve travel plans could be ruined with heavy winds set to batter parts of the country ahead of a rain-soaked Monday. Gusts as high as 60 to 70 mph are due to hit the north of Scotland and northern and central areas of England.

Two separate yellow wind warnings have been issued, the Met Office saying people should expect travel disruption, damage to buildings and power cuts, while the rest of the country may see showers.

Yellow warnings for Christmas Eve (Met Office)

Passengers hit by rail cancellations and delays

Friday 22 December 2023 23:35 , Jane Dalton Rail travel problems hit passengers trying to get away three days before Christmas. Southeastern said a shortage of available train crew was continuing to disrupt its services on Friday.

Services on the Sheerness line were suspended at 10am for the rest of the day, and there are cancellations on the high-speed line to and from London St Pancras throughout the day. The Elizabeth line suffered severe delays on Friday afternoon between London Paddington, Reading and Heathrow Airport after two trains broke down. Network Rail said disruption was expected between Mansfield and Worksop for the end of the day, as well as between Birmingham New Street and Lichfield Trent Valley, caused by damage to the overhead electric wires in the Aston area of Birmingham.

No LNER trains served Inverness on Friday morning.

References

1. ^ Christmas travel chaos (www.independent.co.uk)
2. ^ King’s Cross and Paddington (www.independent.co.uk)
3. ^ g stuck on the road. (www.independent.co.uk)
4. ^ causing lengthy jams (www.independent.co.uk)
5. ^ AA president (www.independent.co.uk)
6. ^ December 23, 2023 (twitter.com)
7. ^ December 23, 2023 (twitter.com)
8. ^ In Pictures: Transport disrupted and trees uprooted as Storm Pia pummels UK (www.independent.co.uk)