Bank Holiday chaos

CHAOS LOOMS on Britain's motorways today as the August Bank Holiday getaway begins.

Experts predict that widespread rail closures will cause a 35 per cent increase in the number of cars on the roads.

An estimated 7.6 million drivers will take to the roads this weekend following Network Rail's decision to press ahead with widespread repairs on mainline routes in and out of London.

The country's three busiest intercity lines, which link London to the West Country and Wales, the North-East and the North-West, will be closed. The AA has warned of serious delays with traffic coming to a standstill on major routes.

The rail shutdown will have a serious effect on the hundreds of thousands of people heading to sporting events, live music events and the Notting Hill Carnival.

With highs of 27C predicted in London, more than a million people are expected to attend the carnival over the weekend, while more than 90,000 people will travel to the three-day Reading Festival.

A further 60,000 people will head to Cardiff for England's rugby international against Wales and 150,000 will go to two days of Rolling Stones concerts at Twickenham. Tourism chiefs described the engineering works as "unfortunate timing".

Essential work will be carried out on the Great Western main line, which will be shut on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

Further work will see the Stansted Express service, which takes people from Liverpool Street to Stansted airport, replaced by coaches on Sunday and Monday.

Sections of the West Coast main line will also be closed over the weekend, with severe disruption anticipated on some sections of the Midland main line and on the East Coast main line.

Virgin Trains said a trip from London to Manchester could take up to four and a half hours, rather than the usual two hours 55 minutes.

"Thousands of people who normally travel by train won't be able to this weekend and will therefore head to the roads," said AA spokeswoman Rebecca Rees.

"It could cause significant problems, particularly to west London. We could see traffic on the roads rising by 35 per cent."

Transport Minister Kim Howells defended the decision to go ahead with the rail closures and said: "The long-term gain will outweigh the short-term pain.

Thousands of men and women will be working around the clock up and down the country to deliver a safer, faster and more reliable railway. Signals will be replaced and track renewed to bring tangible benefits.

"There is no easy time to do this work. It has been planned to cause the least disruption possible."

Mr Howells said the number of people travelling this weekend would be half the number in a weekday rush hour.

Today's rush hour was expected to start at lunchtime, with millions of motorists leaving early.

According to a new survey, one in five drivers is prepared to spend an extra two hours getting to their destination. The poll, by insurance firm Privilege, found that one person in four is planning to travel more than 400 miles over the break, and top destinations include London, Brighton, Bournemouth and Blackpool.

Weather: the capital is tipped to be the warmest destination this weekend, with temperatures reaching 27C (81F).

After a cloudy start temperatures will gradually rise over the weekend, with Sunday and Monday particularly hot.

However, Andy Bodenham of the Met Office said: "It's going to be pleasantly warm rather than unbearably hot.

Temperatures won't get anywhere near the record-breaking heights reached a fortnight ago."

Guildford hotel Ramada Jarvis is even offering its guests a 50 cashback if it rains during the weekend.

Roads: widespread chaos is expected across the main routes in and out of London, with a huge number of people set to drive because of the train disruption, and hundreds of thousands heading to events in and around the capital.

AA spokeswoman Rebecca Rees said: "Our advice is: leave as early as possible.

If you know the route you are taking has roadworks on it, then build that into your journey time or take an alternative route."

Although the Highways Agency has promised to remove as many roadworks as possible they will remain on the M1, M4, M5, M6, M11 and M25.

For more information, call AA Roadwatch on 09003 401 100 or log on to www.theaa.com.

Tube: the capital's transport network is gearing up for the Notting Hill Carnival.

Ladbroke Grove station will be closed on Sunday and Monday while Notting Hill station will have reduced opening times.

The station will be "way out only" between noon and 7pm on both days. On Monday, Circle and District line trains will not stop at Notting Hill between midday and 7.30pm. People should use Bayswater station instead.

Royal Oak station will also be "way out only" on both days and will close at 5pm.

Two special bus services - 12X and 13X - will run between south London and the Carnival route. Night bus services will operate on both Carnival days.

For information, call: 0207 222 1234 or visit www.tube.tfl.gov.uk.

Air: Heathrow is expecting to have its busiest-ever Bank Holiday, handling more than 780,000 passengers from Friday to Monday. Gatwick expects to deal with a further 480,000 and Stansted 265,000 passengers.

For information on Heathrow flights call 0870 0000 123. For Gatwick, call 0870 000 2468. For Stansted, call 0870 0000 303. Or check flight details at www.baa.com.

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