Brit holidaymakers are facing travel chaos over the Easter weekend as routes by land, sea and air are all likely to see delays.
There have been highly publicised problems especially at airports with long queues to get past security leading to people waiting hours and some missing flights while others have seen their flights cancelled.
Travellers are being told to plan ahead and travel on specific days or times to avoid the longest queues.
Airport bosses have blamed the quick return to travel after Covid restrictions were removed, which left them with insufficient staff.
The Easter break is expected to be the busiest period of the year so far for people heading on holiday and many have been left worried that they could miss their trip due to the chaos.
The Department for Transport said it is working with operators to minimise disruption, but advising people to allow extra time for their journeys.
Holidaymakers have also had queues for cross-Channel ferry services which look set to continue as a number of P&O vessels remain detained due to safety issues.
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said there were “additional deficiencies” found during a reinspection on Wednesday of the Pride of Kent, while the Spirit of Britain vessel was detained on Tuesday after an inspection found “a number of deficiencies”.
The suspension of Dover-Calais sailings by P&O Ferries means there is a shortage of capacity on the key route just as Easter weekend approaches.
Large queues of lorries have been forming on the roads approaching the Port of Dover.
Meanwhile, some 27.6 million car journeys are expected to take place over the Bank Holiday weekend, according to the AA.
Motorists are advised to travel on Thursday or early on Saturday if they can, to give themselves the best chance of avoiding long queues.
Edmund King, AA president, said: “All our polling suggests that Good Friday will be the busiest getaway day for Easter trips and staycations. If some drivers can leave on Thursday or early Saturday, they may miss some of the jams.”
The motoring organisation also estimated that, with higher fuel prices, a 500-mile round trip will see drivers paying £20 more at the pumps than they did last Easter.
Transport minister Robert Courts said his department is “working closely with operators to minimise disruption” during the break, but advised people to “plan ahead and check for updates from operators”.
Flight cancellations and long queues at UK airports in recent days have been blamed on difficulties recruiting new staff and the time it takes for their security checks to be processed, as well as increased levels of coronavirus-related sickness.
Aviation data firm Cirium said 9,212 flights with 1.6 million seats are scheduled to depart from UK airports between Good Friday and Easter Monday.
The number of flights is 78% of the total for Easter 2019, before the coronavirus crisis affected travel and the busiest day will be Good Friday when some 2,430 flights are due to depart.
Rail passengers have also been warned of delays as Network Rail carries out 530 engineering projects costing a total of £83 million.
This includes the closure of the West Coast Main Line between London Euston and Milton Keynes for four days from Good Friday due to upgrades of the existing line and HS2 work.
Meanwhile, the Met Office has said the weather looks like it will be “playing ball” for the long weekend, with a high of 23C possible in the south of England on Good Friday.
Forecaster Craig Snell said: “As Bank Holidays go it is looking fairly fine and dry across the UK, so I think people will certainly be able to get out and enjoy the countryside or whatever it is they’re doing over the Easter weekend.
“The weather will be playing ball. All in all, it looks like travel conditions are going to be fairly ok, weather-wise.”
