Drivers are facing 90-minute delays at the Port of Dover – as travel experts issue a warning over congestion ahead of the Bank Holiday weekend.
Transport analytics company Inrix warns the worst times for traffic jams on major roads across the country are likely to be between 10am and 6pm on Friday, and 10am to 1pm on Saturday.
The Port of Dover expects to be used by more than 20,000 cars over the Bank Holiday period.
But forecasts of bad weather today have prompted DFDS Seaways to predict delays of 90 minutes for passengers travelling between Dover and Dunkirk.
Meanwhile, disruption to rail services are also on the cards as Network Rail carries out a number of major engineering projects.
Airports will also see one of their busiest weekends of the year, with the industry hoping for no repeat of the outage by air traffic control company Nats, which grounded flights on last year’s August Bank Holiday Monday.
The RAC estimates 19.2 million leisure trips by car will be made across the UK between Friday and Monday.
The figure, based on a survey of 2,128 UK adults, is the highest since the motoring services company began recording data for the summer bank holiday in 2015.
Friday is likely to be the busiest day on the roads, the AA said, due to the combination of getaway journeys and regular commutes.
National Highways, which manages motorways and major A-roads in England, says it will lift more than 500 miles of roadworks by 6am on Friday until Tuesday to “keep people moving”.
Travel trade organisation Abta estimates more than two million people will be heading overseas between Friday and Monday, with Friday expected to be the busiest day for departures.
Popular destinations include beach resorts in Spain, Portugal, Greece and Turkey, with many people heading on city breaks to Dublin, Amsterdam, Paris, Barcelona and Milan.
Regulator the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) will issue new videos on its social media channels outlining passengers’ rights when flights are delayed or cancelled.
This includes food and drink, overnight accommodation, refunds and rebooking options.
CAA data shows 160,000 flights were delayed and 8,000 were cancelled across UK airports in July and August last year.