Roads quiet as cars head home

The holiday getaway began on Friday

Most of the UK's road network is running smoothly, with no sign of the chaos predicted as motorists return from the bank holiday weekend.

Drivers had been warned to avoid the rush expected in the early evening and to take alternative routes where possible.

Motoring organisations had thought the usual holiday traffic would be worsened by engineering works which closed a number of key railway lines.

A spokesman for BBC Travel News said any traffic queues were mostly due to accidents, with no sign of the mayhem feared.

The RAC said staggered journeys and the fact that people were perhaps holidaying until the end of the week were among the reasons for lighter than usual traffic.

An RAC spokeswoman said: "The roads are really clear. I think what probably happened is that the trains' [engineering works] was very, very well publicised.

"If people had to get from A to B, they were well aware of delays or cancellations that they would encounter. They would have taken that into consideration."

BBC Travel News said there were a few trouble spots on Monday, however, including:

• central Glasgow on A81 westbound

• southbound on M6 in Lancashire, between junctions 32 and 31 at Preston

• southbound on M6 in West Midlands between junctions 10 and 8

• two-mile queues southbound on A12 in Essex at junction 22

• westbound on the M20 in Kent between junctions 11 and 10, where one lane is partially blocked after an accident

• westbound in Cornwall on the A30 near Launceston, partially blocked because of an accident

Engineering work over the bank holiday weekend has meant the closure of parts of the Great Western Main Line and the East and West Coast lines.

The line from London to Stansted Airport is also closed and services disrupted on the Midland Main Line.

A Network Rail spokesman said the work was running to schedule, and engineers were due to hand back the rail network to train operators early on Tuesday morning.

Fair weather

The best of the weather on Monday was in the west of the country, from western Scotland down to the west of England, the BBC's forecaster Philip Avery said.

"Where you keep the sunshine, it will be 23 to 24C, but you'll have to tuck yourself away from quite a cold easterly breeze," he said.

Those still on holiday will be able to enjoy the fair weather across much of the UK on Tuesday.

The best conditions are due in the south east and Midlands where sunny spells are predicted with a top temperature of 23C (73F).

The rest of the country is due to be cloudy with maximum temperatures in Scotland of 20C (68F) and Northern Ireland 21C (70F).