UK braces for record bank holiday traffic as temperatures top 30C

Motoring organizations warned that an unusually hot late May bank holiday weekend, coinciding with the start of half-term break in parts of the UK, is expected to generate even more road traffic than typical for the period.

Temperatures forecast to exceed 30C in some areas by Monday, with coastal roads predicted to be among the busiest, leading to long queues toward seaside resorts and the Port of Dover, where border check delays are compounding the holiday rush.

The RAC expects nearly 19 million drivers to hit Britain’s roads over the long weekend, 1 million more than the same holiday period in 2025.

Its polling found almost four in 10 drivers intend to take a leisure trip, with the heaviest traffic likely on Friday and Saturday, although about 5% of drivers said high fuel prices would keep them at home. The average price of petrol across the UK is 158.52p, the highest since December 2022, according to the RAC.

The AA said its polling suggested day trips to the coast would account for a bigger proportion of leisure journeys than overnight getaways, although shopping centers and retail parks would draw in more traffic overall.

It warned of traffic jams heading toward resorts on the east and north-west coasts of England and queues on roads leading to the southeast and Cornwall, including the A303, M5 and A38.

The parking company RingGo said its data across previous bank holidays suggested Saturday would be the busiest day of the long weekend for seaside day trips, with Bournemouth normally showing the biggest rise in visitors.

The transport analytics company Inrix said the worst traffic this weekend would be on the M1, M25, M5 and M6.

Ferry passengers traveling through the Port of Dover have been warned to expect long queues for border checks with the implementation of the EU’s entry-exit system (EES).

About 18,000 travelers are due between Friday and Sunday, with departures peaking on Saturday morning.

The EES software for the French borders is yet to be fully operational, meaning police are still conducting manual checks despite expensively installed kiosks at the port, with hour-long processing waits reported at the border by 6am on Friday.

Despite concerns about EES delays at airports and uncertainty about jet fuel because of the Iran war, up to 2 million people are expected to fly abroad from the UK in coming days. While airlines report slow forward bookings for summer flights, demand appears to have held up for half-term breaks.

The travel association Abta said its members were reporting strong demand for half-term trips to the Mediterranean, particularly to Spain and its islands, Italy, Portugal, Croatia and Greece.

Its chief executive, Mark Tanzer, said: “In the face of economic and geopolitical challenges, people are still getting away on their holidays this May and making the most of some excellent deals.”

According to the aviation analysts Cirium, more than 12,000 flights are scheduled to take off from the UK over the weekend – more than 2 million seats – with Friday the busiest day for travel and Palma de Mallorca the biggest single destination after the Irish capital, Dublin.

Network Rail said most of Britain’s rail network would be open for passengers over the bank holiday weekend, despite £64 million worth of planned engineering work.

Some services will be disrupted, including parts of the east coast mainline between London and Edinburgh, with rail replacement buses between York and Darlington from Saturday to Monday.

Buses will also replace trains between Newport and Bristol Parkway on the Great Western mainline. Thameslink trains will not run through central London, meaning passengers will have to start and end journeys at either King’s Cross St Pancras or London Bridge.

Strikes will disrupt some rail services in the Midlands and between Birmingham, Liverpool and London. Members of the TSSA union are to strike at West Midlands and London North Western railways, reducing timetables on Friday and Saturday.