Driving home for Christmas is rarely as romantic and care-free as Chris Rea makes it sound. Motorways are chock-a-block and there’s usually some frosty, foggy weather to compete with.
If you want to avoid all of that, you’ll have to do some planning ahead. The AA has predicted that Friday December 22 and Saturday December 23 will be the busiest days on UK roads over the festive period. It has been estimated that each day will see over 16 million cars take the road. Blimey.
The M25, the M5 between Bristol and Weston-Super-Mare and the M6 around Birmingham are set to be the motorway stretches worst affected by traffic jams. The M1 from Luton northwards, the M62 and M60 in the North West and the M4 which connects London with South Wales are also expected to get gridlocked.
Edmund King, president of AA, 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.’
And if you were planning to take the train, you should also be wary of Christmas delays and disruption. No trains are running on Christmas Day and there are very limited services on Boxing Day.
On the other hand, New Year’s Day will be the quietest day on the roads while everyone recovers from the shenanigans of the night before.
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