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Families are being urged to set their Christmas travel plans in motion “as soon as possible” as a four-day motorway strike coinciding with fresh rail walkouts threatens travel mayhem over the festive period.
National Highways workers are striking from today until Christmas Day in the latest phase of industrial action by the biggest civil service union.
The strike involves members of the Public and Commercial Services union who are on-road traffic officers and operating centre staff in London and southeast England.
From Friday, industrial action on Britain’s rail network will mean some services will stop before national strikes from Saturday, Christmas Eve.
As workers prepared to walk out, the government announced regulated rail fares will rise by up to 5.9% next year.
The Independent’s Simon Calder urged drivers to hit the roads as “soon as you possibly can”, saying: “I’ve never known a Christmas quite like this for travel stress.
“Towards the end of the week and on Christmas Day it’s going to get very tricky, with roads being very crowded.
“And the railways – well, services will end either on Friday night or pretty early on Saturday.”
