Fancy a getaway in the sun? Steel yourself for queues on the roads

There was a wall of traffic on the M5 heading to holiday hotspots like Weston-super-Mare on Friday.

The situation was made worse by climate protesters, who took part on a go-slow demonstration on a section of the motorway through Somerset.

Closer to home, motorways have been busier than normal for a Friday but generally kept going, although there were severe delays on the M42 near Tamworth after two lanes were closed by an accident. Traffic was queuing for more than six miles late into Friday afternoon.

The RAC said an estimated 18.8 million leisure trips are planned in the UK over the weekend and into Monday. That is the most since the company began tracking summer getaway numbers in 2014.

Transport analytics company Inrix predicted the M5 South of Bristol was among the busiest routes. It also said routes between the West Midlands, Snowdonia and the North Wales coast faced congestion.

Meanwhile, there were chaotic scenes at the Port of Dover, where the chief executive described being “let down” by poor resourcing at the French border.

Doug Bannister said it was”immensely frustrating”, as travellers faced lengthy queues at the beginning of their summer getaway. He stopped short of guaranteeing the backlog would clear in the coming days, but pledged that officials are doing all they can to address issues.

A “critical incident” was declared by the Kent port due to six-hour queues, with tourists urged to consider staying away.

One lorry driver said he had been queuing in his HGV in Dover since 6pm on Thursday, and was still waiting to cross the Channel after 10am on Friday morning. “I’ve been in something like this before, but this is the worst,” he said.

The Port of Dover attacked French authorities for “woefully inadequate” border control staffing, and local MP Natalie Elphicke claimed French border officers “didn’t turn up for work”.

The Port said resources at the French border increased on Friday morning and traffic was slowly beginning to move, “but it will take some time to clear the backlog”.

Mr Bannister said the port had shared “granular detail” on an “hour-by-hour basis” about the amount of traffic it was expecting, in a bid to avoid such disruption.

Apologising for the situation – one of the busiest periods for foreign travel from the UK as most schools in England and Wales break up for summer – he said they had been “let down” by French authorities.

He said: “I am so sorry that the travellers we have going to the port today are being impacted.

“To be let down in the way that we have with inadequate resources and slow processes through the border is just immensely frustrating.

“We’ve shared in granular detail, on an hour-by-hour basis, the amount of traffic we were anticipating, so it was completely known what we needed to have in place at the French border.”

He said Saturday was also likely to be busy, adding it is “just the start of a very busy summer for us”.

Asked whether he can reassure travellers planning a trip over the coming days that the backlog will ease, he said: “I really wish I could –we’re putting all the attention we possibly can do on ensuring there will be enough resources in place to manage this very busy first weekend of the summer.”

Passengers embarking on cross-Channel sailings from Dover must pass through French border checks before they can board a ferry. The port said in a statement that it had increased the number of border control booths by 50 per cent.

It went on: “Regrettably, the PAF (police aux frontieres) resource has been insufficient and has fallen far short of what is required to ensure a smooth first weekend of the peak summer getaway period.”

Ms Elphicke said there had been “weeks of preparation” for this week by the port, the Department for Transport and Kent Resilience Forum, and “much work with French counterparts too”.

She said: “Despite all this, French border officers didn’t turn up for work at the passport controls as needed. This has caused massive delays.”

Delays at Dover are causing tourist and freight traffic to be stuck on gridlocked roads in the area.

One Twitter user wrote shortly before 7am that there was “total gridlock”, while another said they had been “waiting five hours and still not in the port”, adding: “Sat in lanes waiting to get to border control. Zero movement.”

A serious crash between a van and a lorry also led to a closure on the M20 in Kent.

National Highways South-East said delays between junction 11 (Westenhanger/Hythe) and junction 12 were “severe”.

Ferry operator P&O Ferries told passengers to allow at least five hours to clear the approach roads and security checks.

Passengers have been advised to take additional water and snacks, ensure they have plenty of fuel in the tank, and urged not to try back routes to reach the port due to concerns about worsening the congestion situation, particularly for local residents.

The AA said its latest data showed other ports, such as Portsmouth and Newhaven ferry ports, were running reasonably smoothly.