When is a good time to drive home for Christmas

Best and worst times to travel home for Christmas to dodge the traffic

Whether you are planning a early start to visit the in-laws or to head home, driving home for Christmas can be a nightmare, and Chris Rea can only get you so far. Here it a run-down of information based on both data and experience to help you pick the right time to hit the highway

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Christmas here and all through the UK people are gearing up to make long journeys to spend time with loved ones – Covid allowing.

27 million journeys are due to be made by road, with 18 million cars in action ferrying people, presents and pudding around the British Isles over the coming days.

The organisation has warned that the UK is due for the worst holiday traffic since 2015, as people clamber to have as normal a Christmas as possible after so many plans were forsaken last year.

Read on for the peak times to avoid, and the gaps to pick if you want to travel with as much ease as possible this holiday season.

When are the best times to avoid the roads for Christmas 2021 travel?

The obvious advice of avoiding rush hour still applies and yesterday (Christmas Eve) was the busiest with an extimated 5.3 million car journeys taling place in what’s been dubbed “frantic festive Friday”.

The data indicated there were 4.1 million leisure trips made on Thursday, December 23.

This means that the best times to navigate the national road network without too much hassle are in the spaces between these predicted periods on the M25.

Despite the increasing prevalence of the Omicron Covid variant, our research shows that the vast majority of drivers are still determined to do Christmas properly this year – in sharp contrast to 12 months ago.

“But with overall traffic volumes in the run-up to the big day set to be down slightly on normal given the current ‘work from home’ guidance, there’s reason to hope there won’t be too many queues as millions get away to see friends and family.”

Make sure you plan your thoroughly and conduct proper checks on your car before setting off on a long trip and have a great xmas from all at MarkMeets Media.

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Dan Dunn

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Editor and Admin at MarkMeets since Nov 2012. Columnist, reviewer and entertainment writer and oversees all of the section's news, features and interviews. During his career, he has written for numerous magazines.

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