Christmas travel season underway

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Car Rental News - 19/12/2011

 

Roads and airports around Britain are set to deal with another influx of travellers for this year’s Christmas getaway.

Recent figures from the AA show that some 18 million people will travel on British roadways during the holiday period. The group said that the heaviest traffic is expected on 22 December (Thursday) and 23 December (Friday).

The numbers come via a recent AA/Populus survey of more than 16,000 AA members, which also revealed that about 4.25 million travellers were expected to head abroad over the holiday period. And those staying at home must face rail disruptions, due to engineering work on key links as well as the scheduled Boxing Day strike among Tube drivers.

The report showed that in all, about 68 per cent of Britons will be spending the getaway period at home, with people from north-east England being the most likely to do so, at 78 per cent. In contrast, London residents are the most likely to head away from home, as 60 per cent reported they had plans to leave the capital. And just over a quarter (26%) of respondents said they would be driving whilst 10 per cent said they would be covering at least 100 miles of roadways.

Keith Miller, the AA 2011 patrolman of the year, said that even though forecasts showed weather patterns to likely be less severe than last Christmas that conditions were still unsettled, meaning travellers should take extra time for journeys.

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