Holiday misery in traffic queues

Travellers on the A64 via York were among the worst affected as they headed to the coast in spite of multi-million work to ease congestion at the notorious Hopgrove roundabout.

Traffic was reduced to a crawl as queues of up to six miles formed built up after the 7m upgrade which was completed only in October.

Rail travellers between Yorkshire and London are being warned of disruption today, tomorrow and on Monday until 3pm due to track improvement work between Stevenage and Peterborough.

Operator East Coast warned it expected trains to be "very busy" as it runs a revised timetable. Trains will run only hourly to and from the capital, with journeys expected to take half an hour longer than normal. Some services have also been cancelled or are departing earlier.

Travellers to Scotland on the route are also being warned to expect delays due to a landslip near Berwick-upon-Tweed while operators are warning that other main rail routes will also be affected by engineering work.

Roads to traditional destinations including the Lake District and Blackpool were busy yesterday along with routes to holiday resorts on the south coast and Devon and Cornwall.

Strike action by a French ferry company was causing additional delays at the Port of Dover.

Kent police said Operation Stack, which sees trucks parking on the coast-bound M20 motorway, had been put in place because of action by SeaFrance which was affecting freight traffic.

A Kent Police spokeswoman said: "Delays are likely at the Port of Dover and people are urged to check with their travel operator before setting out."

In Northern Ireland, operations to repair a four-mile stretch of power lines brought down in blizzards were continuing last night as people in 10,000 properties endured their third day without electricity.

More than 100,000 homes and businesses lost power after snow storms hit on Tuesday causing widespread disruption. Technicians involved in efforts to repair the electricity network were shocked by the extent of the damage.

Specialist staff have been drafted in from Britain and the Republic of Ireland to help in the repairs. Community centres were opened to provide heat and hot water to those worst hit.

Weather forecasters are predicting mostly fine weather today and tomorrow in Yorkshire although conditions will deteriorate on Monday with rain and strong winds sweeping into the region.

Experts from the MeteoGroup say sunny periods should develop today after a grey start and there may be a risk of a few showers, with temperatures dipping to freezing overnight.

Tomorrow is likely to be the best day of the Easter break with brighter weather and light winds and temperatures of up to 10C (50F).

But on Easter Monday, rain will sweep in by lunchtime backed by strong southerly winds.

Yesterday was the busiest travelling day of the holiday period as an estimated 20 million people took to the roads and trains over the Easter break.

A lorry driver was released on bail yesterday following a

seven-vehicle pile-up on the

M6 near its junction with the M1 in Warwickshire on Thursday night which caused lengthy delays of up to 90 minutes for travellers.

A six-year-old girl was being treated for severe head injuries while her brother suffered two broken legs and a broken arm in the crash which left 10 others injured.

The AA estimated 56 per

cent of Britain's motorists were likely to take to the roads this Easter.

Last Easter the service attended more than 50,000 breakdowns and bosses are expecting another busy period as many people make their first long-distance car journey of the year.

About two million Britons are fleeing to sunnier climes over the Easter weekend.

Travel organisation Abta said most would flock to Spain and its islands.