Many schools across the UK finished for the Easter holidays on Friday 4 April , as many people plan their holidays up until Easter Monday, which falls on 21 April. During this period, significant delays are expected on certain roads and motorways.
Major intercity railway connections will be disrupted by scheduled improvements. Network Rail Engineering works, particularly during Easter. Airlines have warned about the highest number of flight delays in 25 years due to staffing issues at air traffic control centers. Additionally, ferry travellers might face delays upon their return. France .
Here are the main issues facing Easter travelers.
Road
The busiest period for holiday travel during the weekend starting from Friday, the 11th, until Sunday, the 13th of April, is expected to be concentrated around key routes connecting to the Channel ports – notably Dover – as well as the Eurotunnel terminal located in Folkestone.
When travelling for holidays within the UK, according to past experiences, The Independent anticipates the most congested traffic on four main thoroughfares:
- The M6 north of Birmingham, particularly around Preston and further up, sees increased traffic as tourists make their way to Blackpool and the Lake District for holidays.
- The M5 motorway heading southwest from Birmingham towards Bristol and Exeter
- A303 southwest through Wiltshire
- The section of the M25 specifically between the M23 and M40 junctions towards the south-west, along with the Dartford Crossing to the east.
Alice Simpson, a spokesperson for RAC Breakdown, encouraged drivers to make sure their cars are well-maintained. She stated, "Chances are high that routes leading to favorite vacation spots will experience heavy traffic. Such congestion can be exhausting and also leads to higher fuel usage."
In the most adverse situation, using the clutch improperly during stop-and-go traffic can heighten wear on its parts and result in earlier malfunctioning. Additionally, when moving slowly, air flow into the engine area diminishes which might trigger overheat problems, particularly in more aged cars or ones equipped with defective cooling fans.
Rail
Luton Airport will be inaccessible by train during the weekend of 12-13 April. There are currently no services running between London St Pancras and Bedford operated by East Midlands Railway or Thameslink. Railway substitute buses will connect Hitchin on the East Coast main line to Bedford.
Travellers throughout Britain will encounter disruptions during the Easter holiday because of major engineering works by Network Rail that will shut down important railway routes.
The West Coast main line is shut down at London Euston From Saturday the 19th to Monday the 21st of April. The Avanti West Coast service linking London Euston with the West Midlands, northwest England, North Wales, and southern Scotland will also operate at a reduced capacity over Good Friday.
Network Rail states: "The renewal of overhead lines, switches, crossings, and drainage improvements to enhance reliability will cause disruptions. This affects services running between London Euston and Milton Keynes Central." Bus connections will serve the route from Bedford, which is covered by Thameslink. East Midlands Railway — starting from Milton Keynes Central, where limited services will operate.
Heading further north along the West Coast main line, all services between Carlisle and Scotland will be halted over the weekend starting Saturday until Monday because of ongoing track replacement work. The Caledonian Sleeper will be redirected through the East Coast main line to and from London King's Cross,
HS2 – the contentious, postponed and truncated route designed to connect London with Birmingham – is sparking controversy the shutting down of the Chiltern Railways route connecting London Marylebone and Aylesbury A bridge is currently being erected connecting Great Missenden and Aylesbury.
London Paddington The hub for the Great Western Network will experience significant cuts in capacity as two out of the four tracks heading west towards Reading will be shut down during the Easter weekend.
The Heathrow Express will be decreased from every quarter of an hour to every thirty minutes.
Travels to and from London Paddington are anticipated to be more time-consuming due to traffic congestion.
Elsewhere, the half of London Victoria The station handling Southeastern routes throughout Kent will remain shut for the entirety of the Easter bank holiday weekend. Although certain travelers might have access to alternative stations in London, the crucial connection between Canterbury and Ramsgate , which serves the holiday destinations of Margate and Broadstairs, will be shutting down with bus replacements provided.
In East Sussex, the railway services for the coastal towns of Eastbourne, Bexhill, and Hastings will be substituted with bus alternatives.
Passengers coming from the other side of Victoria to Gatwick airport and Brighton will discover that services are being cut back because of maintenance work on the line heading towards Clapham Junction.
Stansted airport CrossCountry connections to and from Cambridge will be closed from Good Friday to Easter Monday, but the Stansted Express The line to London Liverpool Street should operate as usual.
Holy Week, leading up to Easter, will witness There are no train services running from Southampton to Fareham, nor from Cardiff Queen Street to Cardiff Bay. from Monday the 14th to Friday the 18th of April.
In France, threats of rail strikes on the SNCF network are looming during a six-week period starting from Holy Thursday, 17 April, until 2 June. The SudRail union has served a strike notice, cautioning about potential industrial actions by train drivers as part of their disagreement regarding work schedules.
The union stated: "Certainly, the responsibility for a potential strike lies with the company's management. They retain the chance to halt the growing discontent among the drivers before it spreads to other sectors."
Individually, SudRail has announced a 38-hour strike involving train operators and other railway staff, scheduled from 6pm on May 6th until 8am on May 8th. The reason for this action is a disagreement regarding operator bonus payments.
Air
This week saw the implementation of the summer timetables, which include over 70 new routes launching before Easter for travel to and from the UK.
However, with air traffic control facilities throughout Europe continuing to face severe staffing shortages, Holidaymakers are experiencing the most significant disruptions due to overcrowding in the airspace in 25 years. .
Ryanair states that 36.2 million of its passengers have experienced disruptions due to air traffic control limitations over the past year, with over 200,000 flights experiencing delays. Passengers traveling to and from France and Spain are the most severely affected.
Ben Smith, CEO of Air France-KLM, stated last week: "There is a shortfall of 20-25 percent in the number of air traffic controllers in France, leading to numerous flight delays, something we were anticipating."
Luton airport , which has witnessed growth this week following the launch of Jet2 There will be no train services from London during the upcoming two weekends – specifically on 5-6 and 12-13 April – because of scheduled maintenance works.
The largest low-cost airline in Britain, easyJet, headquartered in Luton, predicts that its peak travel day will fall on Good Friday, April 18th. On this day, the company intends to operate over 1,100 departures and arrivals at British airports, transporting as many as 145,000 passengers. Popular sunny getaways include Dalaman in Turkey along with the Spanish island destinations of Mallorca and Tenerife.
Ferry
In past years, Dover has witnessed significant delays over the Easter period when buses gather at the UK's principal ferry terminal. Passengers must go through passport control for France prior to boarding their ferries.
However, Doug Bannister, the chief executive of Port of Dover, stated The Independent “We have everything planned out, completed all traffic forecasts, and shared this data with collaborators across the harbor area, including” Police aux Frontières , and they have increased their efforts.
The significant alteration we’re implementing this year involves strengthening our collaboration with ferry operators as well as the French and British governments.
We have an initiative underway that we’re testing during this Easter holiday. Schools can sign up in advance for their trips, which will significantly streamline their passage across the border.
We believe this will have a very positive impact on school trips from the UK to Europe.
The inability of the European Union to implement the entry-exit scheme As was announced in November 2024, journeys ought to become more seamless, eliminating the requirement for vehicle passengers to undergo fingerprinting or photography.
The main issue for drivers might be getting back from Dunkirk and Calais to Dover following the Easter period.
Congestion could be exacerbated by international tourists visiting the UK who might not know that as of 2 April, they will require an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) allow visits. Individuals will have the option to apply for one immediately upon arrival, potentially leading to increased crowding at UK border control points, which operate within the French port facilities.
Whether it’s from news to politics, travel to sports, culture to climate – The Independent offers a range of free newsletters tailored to your preferences. To get the stories you're interested in delivered directly to your inbox along with additional content, simply click. here .