Bank holiday getaway sees delays of nearly two hours at Port of Dover

Ferry passengers embarking on bank holiday getaways across the Channel are facing queues of nearly two hours at the Port of Dover.

Operator DFDS warned customers shortly before 1pm that waiting times were up to one hour and 15 minutes at border control and 40 minutes at check-in.

Passengers booked on sailings from Calais to Dover face 30-minute queues at border control in northern France.

Monday is a bank holiday in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and the last before the Christmas period.

Earlier on Friday there was disruption to Gatwick Express services between London Victoria and Brighton via Gatwick Airport because of a fault with the signalling system.

A strike on Saturday and Monday by workers at train operator CrossCountry who are members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union will affect services throughout the bank holiday period.

The company will run no trains on Saturday, will have significant disruption on Sunday, and a reduced timetable on Monday.

Passengers are advised not to travel on Saturday and to travel on either side of the bank holiday weekend, or claim a full refund.

Union sources said the dispute centres on claims that CrossCountry has failed to honour agreements on staffing, safety and pay.

Shiona Rolfe, CrossCountry managing director, said the company is “committed to reaching an agreement with the RMT and remain available to continue talks”.

Engineering work by Network Rail means there will be no long-distance services between London King’s Cross and Peterborough on Sunday, disrupting Anglo-Scottish journeys by LNER and Lumo on the East Coast Main Line.

Avanti West Coast will operate a reduced service to and from London Euston, with their trains between Birmingham New Street and Birmingham International being diverted, adding extra time to journeys.

CrossCountry services will also be diverted, extending journey times, while London Northwestern services will run to and from Birmingham International only.

Helen Hamlin, Network Rail’s chief network operator, said the “vast majority of the railway will be running” but “works on some parts of the network are unfortunately unavoidable”.

Meanwhile the RAC urged drivers to set off as early as possible or “be prepared to spend longer in traffic”, as 17.6 million getaway trips by car are expected to take place in the UK between Friday and Monday.

Three million journeys for holidays or day trips are expected to be made on Friday, rising to 3.4 million on Saturday.

Some 2.4 million leisure journeys are expected on Sunday and 2.7 million on Monday.

The RAC said an additional 6.1 million drivers are planning a trip at some point between Friday and Monday.

The figures are based on responses to a survey of 2,080 UK adults, extrapolated to the 34 million cars licensed in the UK.

Transport analytics company Inrix predicted the M5 between Bristol and Devon will have the most severe getaway traffic, with the stretch from junction 15 north of Bristol to junction 23 for Bridgwater likely to see delays of more than 40 minutes on Friday and Saturday.

Hold-ups exceeding half an hour are forecast on Friday on the M20 in Kent, which is a route taken by a large proportion of vehicles making Channel crossings via Dover or Folkestone.

The warning relates to journeys from junction seven near Maidstone to junction three (Addington Interchange), and from junction one at Swanley to junction five at Aylesford.