Drivers have been warned of Christmas Eve chaos after it was revealed half of the UK’s motorists will take to main roads on Monday.
People heading home for Christmas or doing some last-minute shopping are being warned to expect severe delays in some areas.
Despite reduced commuter traffic, more than one in five are set to visit family and friends and 16 per cent will make a shopping or other day trip.
Analysis by the RAC and traffic information supplier Inrix predicted that roads will be busiest between 11am and 1pm.
The worst road for long delays is expected to be the M1, M25, M5, M6 and M40.
Highways England lifted more than 200 miles of roadworks on the country’s motorways and major A-roads on Friday to ensure more than 97 per cent of its network is open.
In addition to the threat of long queues, drivers are also being hit with the highest Christmas getaway fuel costs since 2013, averaging £1.21 per litre for petrol and £1.31 per litre for diesel.
RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said: “Drivers filling up for their Christmas journeys will be right to exclaim ‘bah humbug’ to the retailers this year as it’s much costlier than last year.
“The frustrating thing is that it shouldn’t be this way.
“The wholesale price of petrol now is no more than last year, suggesting it has been anything but a season of goodwill for fuel retailers.
“Many simply have failed to cut their pump prices as far as they should have given the steep decline in the wholesale prices of petrol and diesel.”
Anyone hoping to escape motoring misery by catching a train could also face difficulties.
As usual, there will be no trains on Christmas Day and a limited service will run on Boxing Day.
But some of Network Rail’s 330 Christmas engineering projects have already begun, forcing a number of lines to be closed.
There are no services between London Victoria – the UK’s second busiest station – and Clapham Junction until January 2 due to track renewal.
Crossrail work means there are no trains operating to or from London Paddington on Sunday, Monday or December 30, with a reduced service between Christmas and New Year’s Day.
Network Rail’s managing director of strategic operations Andy Thomas said: “We know that our railway is up to 50 per cent quieter than usual during the festive period so taking on and delivering these huge transformational schemes at this time of year minimises our impact on passengers.
“While most of the network is open for business as usual, some routes are heavily affected and so we strongly advise passengers to plan ahead.”
