Busiest August bank holiday on record predicted

Gareth Herincx

45 mins ago
Auto News

Motorway traffic

The RAC reckons the August bank holiday weekend will be the busiest in nine years with an estimated 19.2m leisure journeys by car as drivers go ‘day trip crazy’.

Saturday 24 August is set to be the busiest on the roads with 3.7m getaway trips planned, slightly ahead of the 3m journeys planned every day on Friday (3.2m), Sunday (3.1m) and Bank Holiday Monday (3m).

Additionally, a massive 6.2m trips are planned at some point over the last long summer weekend of the year, with drivers undecided exactly when they’ll travel.

The 19.2m figure is the highest number of ‘getaway’ trips predicted for the August Bank Holiday since the RAC began recording data for this weekend in 2015.

The RAC’s research also found an overwhelming majority of journeys will be day trips, with 84% of respondents saying they will be using their car for days out.

Just 10% of drivers say they will be setting off on holiday in the UK or abroad and 6% will be returning home from a staycation or a foreign holiday.

Transport analytics specialists INRIX expect delays to last all day on both Friday 23 and Saturday 24 August, with the worst times to travel between 10am and 6pm on Friday and 10am and 1pm on Saturday.

Drivers are advised to make journeys on Friday evening after 6pm when the worst of the commuter traffic is over, or after 2pm on Saturday following the lunchtime rush.

“Seaside resorts, airports and theme parks are likely to be amongst some of the most popular destinations, along with attractions such as Leeds Festival, and routes in Kent will also be busier as people head to Europe via the ports for some last-minute sun,” said National Network manager at National Highways Dale Hipkiss.

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Be prepared for the big Easter getaway

Gareth Herincx

3 days ago
Auto News

Motorway traffic

Drivers are set to embark on up to 17 million leisure trips by car this Easter bank holiday, with Good Friday and Easter Sunday set to see the largest number of journeys made.

Research by the RAC and data from transport analytics experts INRIX suggests there may be long delays in parts of the south and west of the UK.

Good Friday could turn out to be a ‘bad’ Friday for drivers this year, with an estimated 2.7 million ‘getaway’ trips expected that day.

The A303 westbound near Stonehenge, M5 south between Bristol and Bridgwater and M25 anticlockwise between Hertfordshire and Surrey are predicted to see more than twice the normal amount of traffic, with vehicle speeds reduced to just 12mph at some points in the day.

Easter Sunday is forecast to see a similar number of leisure journeys being made by drivers (2.7m), with Easter Saturday and Easter Monday only slightly less busy with 2.3m separate trips each.

But it appears a large number of drivers are waiting to see what the great British weather has in store before deciding which day to jump in the car – with the potential for another 7m trips to be staggered throughout the long weekend.

And with planned engineering work on the railway, including the closure of London Euston station over the whole weekend, more people look certain to be forced onto the roads.

The good news for drivers, if there is some, is that National Highways is temporarily lifting around 1,400 miles of roadworks from Thursday to help alleviate the queues.

Knowing that just a single breakdown can cause traffic to grind to a halt, the RAC is recommending drivers make sure their vehicles are ‘road-ready’ before setting off.

Top tips for a better trip this bank holiday – from teams at the RAC

  • “Make sure you’ve got enough fuel in your vehicle to get to your destination. If you’re driving an electric car, plan in your charging stops before you set out and check any faults with chargers using an app like Zap-Map.” – RAC patrol, eastern England
  • “Keep any important medicine that you or your passengers need in the car with you, and carry some extra medication in case you break down and get delayed.” – RAC patrol, eastern England
  • “Check your level of breakdown cover matches the journeys you’ll be making. If you’re driving a long distance, have you got national recovery so you can get home again if your car lets you down?” – RAC customer service agent, West Midlands
  • “Keep your locking wheel nut somewhere you can easily find it as this makes it quicker for us to do a tyre change if needed. And download and use the free MyRAC mobile app as it makes it much easier for us to find you.” – RAC patrol, south west England
  • “Check your tyres every time, especially the inside front edges. And whatever you do, don’t start a journey with a known problem!” – RAC patrol, south west England

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Revealed: rip-off seaside parking charges

Home / Auto News / Revealed: rip-off seaside parking charges

Gareth Herincx

1 day ago
Auto News

Car park, parking

Tourists visiting UK coastal towns this Bank Holiday are being warned to do their research on parking charges.

As the cost-of-living crisis drives more Brits towards summer staycations, several popular private seaside car parks appear to be cashing in, according to research by leading vehicle breakdown provider Start Rescue.

The worst offender was found in Newquay – a destination which welcomed more than 5.9m tourists in 2021 – with one private parking location charging £35 for a stay of just eight hours.

Newquay is one of several popular seaside towns to scrap free parking facilities in favour of expensive new tariffs, removing its free facilities in June 2020.

Start Rescue has advised that it pays to shop around before ditching the car this Bank Holiday, warning visitors to vote with their feet when it comes to rip-off parking providers.

Worst seaside parking rates for eight hours

  1. Newquay – £35
  2. Brighton – £31.50
  3. Blackpool – £18
  4. Bournemouth – £15.95
  5. Weymouth – £15.50
  6. Llandudno – £12
  7. Durdle Door – £10
  8. Polzeath – £10
  9. Scarborough – £9.95
  10. Southend on Sea – £9.30

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Gareth is a versatile journalist, copywriter and digital editor who’s worked across the media in newspapers, magazines, TV, teletext, radio and online. After long stints at the BBC, GMTV and ITV, he now specialises in motoring.

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The great Platinum Jubilee weekend getaway

Gareth Herincx

4 days ago
Auto News

motorway-traffic

The extra-long Jubilee bank holiday weekend will see drivers make an estimated 19.5m leisure journeys by car, research from RAC Breakdown suggests.

In the region of 3.6m leisure trips by car are expected to be made on the Friday bank holiday (3 June), according to a study of 1,460 drivers’ travel plans, as day-trippers combine with families making their way back home at the end of the half term break.

Bank holiday Thursday is likely to be the next busiest day (3.3m) followed by both Saturday and the Wednesday preceding the bank holidays (2.6m each day).

An additional 5m will use their cars at some point over the full five days, boosting the overall numbers of cars clogging the roads.

Transport experts INRIX predict that traffic conditions could be worst in the mornings of the bank holidays and advise drivers to set off as early as possible or delay their trips until much later in the day to skip any jams.

Separate research by the RAC reveals that more than a third of drivers (37%) plan to stay close to home over the bank holiday rather than drive a considerable distance and of these, 11% say they won’t be driving far due to the high price of fuel which hit new records again last week.

A quarter (26%) meanwhile say they’ll only set out for a leisure trip by car if the weather turns out to be good.

The RAC is reminding drivers to check over their vehicles before setting out after separate research it carried out found that less than a fifth (17%) admit to always checking things like oil, coolant and tyres prior to a long journey, with nearly quarter (23%) never doing so at all. The remainder – 59% – say they check their cars only before some journeys.

“The best way for drivers to avoid breaking down this week is to check over their vehicles before setting out – yet our research shows less than a fifth do this routinely,” said RAC traffic spokesman Rod Dennis.

“Making sure oil, coolant and screenwash are all at the right levels takes just minutes, as does ensuring tyres are free of damage and are inflated properly. A bit of TLC now could make the difference between a straightforward trip and one beset by a breakdown.”

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