Easter travel warning: Storm Nelson grounding planes, flooding cancels trains and brings bank holiday disruption

Up to 18.5 million car journeys are planned for the start of the school holidays, with motorists warned of disruption to roads over the Easter weekend.

People setting out on trips are likely to encounter delays from Thursday, March 28, when children are dismissed at the end of term, until Good Friday, with one expert saying it will be a “karmageddon” for holidaymakers. It warns that this is a possibility.

The overall travel situation shouldn't be as bad as it was in 2023, when strikes over the Easter weekend led to dozens of flight cancellations and delays and major rail construction.

The match is scheduled to kick off at 8pm GMT on Saturday, March 30th at G Tech Community Stadium.

Kick-off time is just two minutes before the last train from London St Pancras station to Manchester Piccadilly is scheduled to depart. London Euston services will be suspended this weekend due to civil works between London and Milton Keynes.

Manchester Piccadilly, one of Britain's busiest rail hubs, is very quiet this morning. Two of the main routes from the station are closed due to Network Rail works. It is the main route on the West Coast Main Line to London Euston and across the Pennines to Huddersfield and Leeds.

Travel time from Manchester to London will almost double to around 4 hours. Avanti West Coast trains run south to Milton Keynes Central, from where rail replacement buses run to Bedford, which connects East to Midlands Railway.

Trains between Manchester and Huddersfield are also being replaced by buses.

Disruptions also began early on other routes, with northern trains from Manchester Piccadilly to the airport delayed.

For one week from today, Avanti West Coast trains will be out of service due to a strike by train drivers belonging to the Aslef union.

Passengers heading to London Stansted Airport, the UK's fourth busiest airport, are facing a potentially major problem this morning. The Stansted Express train service from the capital to the airport will not be operating, with “massive disruption” expected until 10.30am.

A fallen tree knocked down overhead wires near Stansted Mountfitchet station. Some trains run to Bishop's Stortford and taxis are also available. But on what has been one of Essex Airport's busiest days of the year so far, it seems inevitable that some airline passengers will miss their flights.

National Rail is telling passengers: “Please do not travel between London Liverpool Street and Stansted Airport.

“Today's tickets will be accepted tomorrow.”

Trains to Cambridge will also be affected, but passengers will be able to take alternative routes from London's King's Cross station.

Typically, there are four trains an hour each way between Stansted and London's Liverpool Street, carrying over 2,000 passengers.

Two million British holidaymakers are set to jet overseas over the Easter weekend, with one airport bracing for a “record-breaking” number of passengers.

With wet and windy weather forecast for the UK, Turkey, Dubai and the Canary Islands are the most popular destinations, but trips to Dublin are also in demand.

Travel industry body Abta said 175,000 people had flown from Stansted Airport, 105,000 from Luton Airport, 160,000 from Manchester Airport, 79,000 from Birmingham Airport and 8 from Edinburgh Airport between Friday and Monday. It said 9,000 people were scheduled to depart the country and “strong numbers” were being reported from airports.

Manchester Airport Managing Director Chris Woodroof said: “We're thrilled that a record number of people will be flying out of here this Easter. 320,000 people will be using the airport over the Bank Holiday weekend. “This is an increase of 7% as of April 2023.”

Glasgow is forecasting more than 90,000 passengers over the four-day period, while Birmingham Airport said it expected a 27.2% increase in departures over last year over the Easter period.

Bristol City, which predicts 30,000 holiday travelers will take part on Easter Sunday alone, advised: “If you're traveling with Easter eggs, we recommend keeping the chocolate treats in your carry-on baggage so they're easily accessible as they may need to be opened for a quick check.”

Liverpool Airport is expecting around 60,000 passengers over the four days, around 7% more than last year.

The Met Office said the forecast for the Easter weekend remained “unstable” but “bright and breezy”, with temperatures on Sunday reaching a peak of 15C in west London and 14C in Manchester, typical for this time of year. Stated.

Rod Dennis, spokesperson for RAC Breakdown, said: “The Easter bank holiday weekend will be characterized by typical early spring weather, so motorists traveling out of town should definitely take precautions and be prepared to deal with rapidly changing road conditions. We need to keep it,” he said.

“During the heaviest downpours on Good Friday and Easter Saturday, stopping distances will be much longer so slowing down is essential.”

With wet and windy weather forecast for the UK, Turkey, Dubai and the Canary Islands are the most popular destinations, but trips to Dublin are also in demand.

Travel industry body Abta said 175,000 people had flown from Stansted Airport, 105,000 from Luton Airport, 160,000 from Manchester Airport, 79,000 from Birmingham Airport and 8 from Edinburgh Airport between Friday and Monday. It said 9,000 people were scheduled to depart the country and “strong numbers” were being reported from airports.

Up to 18.5 million car journeys are planned for the start of the school holidays, with motorists warned of disruption to roads over the Easter weekend.

People setting out on trips are likely to encounter delays from Thursday, March 28, when children are dismissed at the end of term, until Good Friday, with one expert saying it will be a “karmageddon” for holidaymakers. It warns that this is a possibility.

The overall travel situation shouldn't be as bad as it was in 2023, when strikes over the Easter weekend led to dozens of flight cancellations and delays and major rail construction.

Post-Brexit passport rules have barred millions of Brits from entering the EU and are likely to cause chaos over the Easter holidays.

With the holidays starting in earnest on Thursday, an estimated 2.4 million travelers will have documents that cannot be used to travel to the EU due to changes to validity requirements.

Since Brexit, UK passports must be dated within 10 years of the date of issue of your departure date to the EU, and must have at least 3 months remaining before their expiration date on your intended return date. However, millions of passports issued before September 2018 will have a longer validity period.