Photos showed huge queues of traffic at the Port of Dover on Friday as thousands of Brits headed abroad for the bank holiday.
The UK’s roads are predicted to be “exceptionally” busy this weekend, as travellers make the most of the last bank holiday of the summer.
The Port of Dover made no mention of the queues on its social media channels, but P&O said its ferry services were running on time on Friday morning.
The Kent port has put measures in place to help minimise queues of summer holiday getaway traffic.
Bosses previously urged car passengers embarking on summer getaways to arrive up to but not more than three hours before their booked sailing.
The AA predicts 18 million trips will take place across the long weekend - with twice as many drivers expected to travel compared with May’s bank holidays.
The level of traffic on the roads is likely to be compounded by Saturday’s RMT rail strike.
The AA predicted Friday would be the busiest day on the roads.
Nick Powell, AA patrol of the year, said: ”Even if travelling locally, we recommend that drivers check their vehicle prior to setting off, as many of our callouts are for those that break down close to home.”
Meanwhile, thousands of those travelling by air had their bank holiday plans ruined amid a string of flight cancellations on one one of the busiest weekends of the year for airlines.
More than 40 British Airways (BA) and EasyJet flights were cancelled on Friday to and from Heathrow and Gatwick airports, causing “chaotic scenes”, with some passengers reporting issues with the airlines’ customer services.
