Easter travel and weather: Two-hour queues at Port of Dover and chaos on trains amid bank holiday getaway

Drivers heading off for Easter faced two-hour queues for ferries from Dover on Friday, while storm damage caused chaos on train lines.

Photos showed queues of heavy traffic on the approach to the Channel crossing, the Port of Dover warned at midday it was taking “around two hours” for people to be processed.

Meanwhile damage to overhead wires caused by Storm Nelson left train services to and from London Liverpool Street – including the Stansted Express – delayed and cancelled on Friday morning and a ‘do not travel’ warning issued to rail passengers planning to use the services.

The disruption left thousands of passegners facing missing their flights. Lines reopened by around 11am, but disruption was expected until around 1pm.

Two million British holidaymakers were set to jet abroad this bank holiday weekend, with many likely to be hit by the chaos in the Stansted Airport area.

Travel trade organisation Abta said airports were reporting “strong numbers” for the weekend, with 175,000 passengers due to leave from Stansted, 105,000 from Luton, 160,000 from Manchester, 79,000 from Birmingham, and 89,000 from Edinburgh between Friday and Monday.

There are also planned part-closures affecting large sections of the Underground, DLR and Overground across the bank holiday weekend.

With around 2.6 million car journeys expected to be made on Good Friday, drivers were warned journeys could take twice as long on some routes, in the aftermath of Storm Nelson.

More than 30 flood warnings and 183 flood alerts remained in place in England on Friday, said the Environment Agency, after rain and strong winds battered the UK on Thursday.

On Friday large queues of traffic could be seen at Dover as people looked to make their journeys across the Channel.

Passengers on platforms at King’s Cross Station n Friday (Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire)

Ferry company DFDS on Thursday reported that its services at Dover were running with delays “due to strong winds in the Channel”. Several ferries were also cancelled on Thursday due to the high winds.

Storm Nelson arrived with gusts of 50mph expected quite widely, according to a Met Office yellow weather warning for wind that covered London and the South East, the South West and east of England. The weather warning was lifted for Friday.

Great Western Railways closed a number of lines on Thursday due to flooding. All lines between Westbury and Swindon were shut and the main line from Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads was also closed.

Travel trade organisation Abta said airports are reporting “strong numbers”, with 175,000 due to leave from Stansted, 105,000 from Luton, 160,000 from Manchester, 79,000 from Birmingham, and 89,000 from Edinburgh between Friday and Monday.

Good Friday is set to be a day of sunshine and blustery scattered showers, coming after unsettled conditions which have seen hailstones hit parts of Cornwall.

Long queues at Dover (Gareth Fuller/PA Wire)

Elsewhere, in any sunshine it could feel warm, with highs of 14C expected in the south east of England but there is the risk of the odd thunderstorm, the Met Office said.

The driest weather is expected in the far north east of the UK and there could be a windy start to the day in many regions.

Deputy chief meteorologist Dan Harris said: “The weather is expected to gradually improve following the widely unsettled spell of the past few days, with a fairly typical mix of spring-like weather across the UK.

“There will be some sunshine, and it will feel increasingly warm for most as the winds become lighter.

“However, the west and especially south west is likely to see passing showers too, which could be quite heavy and frequent at times.

“Eastern coastal districts are also likely to feel increasingly cold as an onshore breeze develops, threatening persistent low cloud in some areas too.”

The RAC and transport analysis company Inrix commissioned a survey which suggested 2.6 million leisure journeys by car will be made on Good Friday.

The lengthiest delays are expected to be between 11am and 3pm, meaning drivers are advised to set off as early as possible or wait until later in the afternoon.

Two popular routes for holidaymakers – the M5 southbound between Bristol and Taunton, and the M3 between the M25 and the south coast – are likely to be congested.

Turkey, Dubai and the Canary Islands are among the most popular destinations abroad and trips to Dublin are also in demand.

Manchester Airport managing director Chris Woodroofe said: “It’s exciting that record numbers of people will be taking off from here this Easter: 320,000 people will travel (through the airport) over the bank holiday weekend – that’s up 7% on April 2023.”

Passengers queue to enter the Eurotunnel site in Folkestone in Kent  (Gareth Fuller/PA Wire)

Glasgow predicts more than 90,000 passengers over the four days while Birmingham Airport said it expects a 27.2% increase in departures compared to last year over the full Easter period.

Bristol, which predicts 30,000 holiday trips on Easter Sunday alone, advised: “If travelling with Easter eggs, passengers are advised to keep any chocolate treats in your cabin baggage and to make sure they’re easily accessible as they may need to be opened for a quick check.”

Liverpool Airport expects around 60,000 passengers over the four days, which is around 7% higher than last year.

Meanwhile, around 20,000 cars are expected to travel through the Port of Dover between Thursday and Easter Monday.

Ferry firm Stena Line said bookings on Irish Sea routes are up 115% on an average weekend at this time of year and have increased by 26% on Easter weekend 2023.

Network Rail urged train passengers to check their journey details before they travel because some major routes will be closed due to engineering work.

Cars make their way along the A303 past Stonehenge in Wiltshire  (Andrew Matthews/PA Wire)

The West Coast Main Line between London Euston and Milton Keynes will be shut for four days from Good Friday.

There will also be disruption in the areas around Glasgow and Huddersfield.

Tourist board VisitEngland said around 11 million people in the UK are planning an overnight Easter trip, generating an estimated £3.2 billion for the economy.

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