Brits face 12 days of Christmas travel CHAOS with 2,000 roadworks as 18 million people drive home on ‘Frantic Friday’

BRITS will be plagued by 12 days of Christmas travel chaos with roads and railways to be brought to a standstill by works.

An eye-watering 18 million cars will take to the roads on December 20 – dubbed Frantic Friday – as major routes are set to be choked up by more than 2,000 roadworks.

Schools breaking up later this week will trigger 60 minute-plus getaway jams and will peak on Friday.

Some rail journey times will almost quadruple with Network Rail is set to spend more than £100million on 386 Christmas projects.

Four million Brits will flee the country abroad – but they to face delays with Heathrow Express trains scrapped, Gatwick Express cut by half and the possibility of massive security queues.

Veteran transport consultant Ian Baldry, of IBPTS, said: “It looks more like 12 days of chaos than 12 days of Christmas. There’s a potent cocktail of travel disruption.”

Troublesome Thursday will see afternoon getaway hold-ups as some schools finish with Friday to be even worse.

Traffic will clash with commuters and the worst period will be between 4pm and 7pm.

The M1 North, M25, M6 circling Birmingham and M5 near Bristol are set to see the longest snarl-ups.

Around 2,000 sets of roadworks by local authorities and utility companies are also clogging Britain’s roads in the lead up to Christmas, RAC data showed.

‘FRANTIC FRIDAY’

And the maintenance works will not be suspended for the festive period.

Highways England has said: “It’s not safe or cost-effective to complete or remove all roadworks.”

RAC spokesman Simon Williams said: “It will be a ‘Frantic Friday’ on the roads so motorists should expect delays and allow longer times for journeys.

“Local authority and utility company roadworks not being removed could slow drivers down.”

It’s estimated 20 million rail journeys will be made over the Christmas fortnight.

But six of Britain’s seven main lines are hit by works: London to Wales, Glasgow, Edinburgh, the South-West, East and Midlands.

‘NECESSARY EVIL’

Heathrow to Paddington will take 57 minutes via London Underground, up from 16 minutes via the Heathrow Express.

Bedford to Kettering will take one hour six minutes via bus, up from 20 minutes by train.

Network Rail chief executive Andrew Haines said: “We do so much work as significantly fewer people travel over Christmas. Please check before you travel.”

Great Western has no trains between London and Reading from December 24 to December 27, and between Bristol and Cardiff from December 27 to January 2.

Greater Anglia services between London and Norwich are severed from December 28 to January 1.

South Western Railway’s London to Portsmouth route has lines shut near Guildford on December 28-30.

London to the Midlands sees buses replace trains south of Leicester on December 28 and 29.

Festive flyers will also face delays as Heathrow Express is scrapped on December 24 and 27 and halved from December 28-30.

Gatwick Express services will be cut by half on December 28 and 29.

Airports braced for queues at security and check-in desks, with four million Brits set to travel abroad over the holidays.

Ian Baldry added: “No wonder roads and National Express will be busier catering for passengers who’ve had enough of travelling by train.”