Christmas getaway will mean severe jams after lunchtime, experts warn

Dr Graham Cookson, chief economist at transportation analysts Inrix, said many motorists will find themselves stuck in long queues from Friday afternoon onwards.

An estimated 1.3 million drivers on leisure trips will fight for road space with regular commuters on the last working day before Christmas.

Dr Cookson said it will be one of the worst days of the year on the roads with “incredibly severe” traffic jams.

He told the Press Association: “After lunch most of the roads will get busier and stay busy into the evening.

“What we see is roads in congestion for most of the time, average speeds very slow, people crawling along.

“The pure weight of traffic means a lot of motorways will be much slower than normal so your total journey takes so much longer.”

Inrix data shows that the worst non-accident traffic blackspot on the Friday before Christmas last year was the A303 at Stonehenge.