HEATHROW FLIGHTS CANCELLED AS DRIVERS URGED TO TRAVEL AT SPECIFIC TIMES Parts of motorway closed as pinch points revealed
It’s the last working day before Christmas, with millions of people expected to dash for home to get settled in time for the holiday.
The RAC predicts that around 13.5 million leisure journeys will take place across the UK between today and Sunday – a 20% increase on the three days before Christmas Day last year.
The AA said earlier that an estimated 16.1 million journeys could take place today alone.
And in the words of Chris Rea, there may be “red lights all around” if you’re travelling by car, as the RAC says road congestion is likely to peak today.
Drivers are being urged to travel before 11 am or after 6 pm where possible to reduce the chance of getting stuck in tailbacks.
Transport analysis firm Inrix has identified these hotspots for traffic on the M25 around London:
London Heathrow is expecting the busiest winter’s day since before the COVID pandemic today, a travel journalist has said.
Simon Calder, the Independent’s travel correspondent, told Sky News the airport is also predicting this December will be its busiest ever.
There have been “lots of Love Actually” moments throughout the morning, showing how “heavily emotionally invested” people are in getting home to their loved ones for Christmas.
Mr Calder says he has seen “at least” 20 British Airways flights cancelled so far today – most of them short-haul domestic or European flights.
Away from the airport, Mr Calder says his “heart goes out” to passengers at London St Pancras, the rail hub for Eurostar, where dozens of services from London to Paris and Brussels and back were cancelled due to a surprise workers’ strike yesterday.
“That represents about 25,000 people waking up this morning where they didn’t intend to be,” he says.
Rail passengers can “expect some very crowded journeys” today in the fallout from yesterday’s disruption.
