We’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is that we’ll all get to enjoy a glorious extra day off this weekend. The bad news is that it will be the UK’s final bank holiday until Christmas. So, make sure you make the most of it.
Lots of us will no doubt use the long weekend as an excuse to travel out of town. Perhaps you’re heading to one of the UK’s best seaside destinations, maybe you want to explore one of its most underrated cities, or you could be venturing to one of its most beautiful places.
Wherever you’re going, the most important thing to keep in mind is that bank holidays are always extremely busy for travel and traffic. So, whether you’re planning to take the car or catch a train, here’s our full guide to the road and rail disruption happening across the UK this August bank holiday weekend.
Road disruption and closures
M5
Transport analytics company Inrix has warned that there’ll be heavy traffic on the M5 between Bristol and Devon across the weekend. It says that there are likely to be queues of more than 40 minutes between junction 15 north of Bristol and junction 23 for Bridgwater on both Friday and Saturday.
M20
Anyone crossing the channel from Dover or Folkestone – be aware that on Friday, delays of at least 30 minutes are expected along the M20 in Kent.
The RAC said that the busiest times for all of Britain’s motorways this weekend will be on Friday from 10am-7pm, Saturday from 9am-5pm and Monday from 11am-6pm.
Rail disruption and cancellations
Avanti West Coast
Engineering work on the West Coast Main Line this weekend means that there will be a number of reduced services and cancellations.
On Saturday, Sunday and Monday, Avanti West Coast trains between London Euston and Holyhead will run between Crewe and Holyhead only. On Sunday only, trains that run between London Euston and Birmingham New Street, Wolverhampton, Preston, Glasgow Central and Edinburgh will be diverted via an alternative route in Birmingham.
c2c
On Saturday, c2c trains towards Grays won’t be calling at Rainham due to a platform closure. After 9.15pm, train will stop running between Grays and Barking via Rainham, there’ll be a replacement bus instead.
After 9.30pm on Sunday until 4.30am on Monday, buses will replace trains between Laindon and Pitsea, due to engineering work.
Chiltern Railways
From 8pm on Saturday, there’ll be no Chiltern Railway trains on the Aylesbury Vale Parkway - Amersham - London Marylebone route.
CrossCountry
Strike action by members of the RMT union means that you should expect significant reduction in CrossCountry services on Saturday August 23 and Monday August 25.
As well as that, there will be several changes to services on Sunday and Monday due to engineering. The lines between Birmingham New Street and Coleshill Parkway, between Birmingham New Street and Tamworth and between Birmingham New Street and Birmingham International will be closed.
That means that trains on the Birmingham New Street to Stansted Airport (via Leicester) route will start and terminate at Coleshill Parkway; trains will operate between Cardiff Central and Birmingham New Street and between Coleshill Parkway and Nottingham and trains from Birmingham New Street to the north east and Scotland will be diverted, not calling at Tamworth.
There will be rail replacement buses running along all the affected routes.
East Midlands Railway
Due to planned engineering work, there will be service changes affecting trains between London St Pancras and Nottingham, Nottingham and Matlock, Nottingham and Liverpool Lime Street, Nottingham and Derby, Leicester and Cleethorpes, and Leicester and Lincoln. You can see a full break down of each affected route here.
Grand Central
Thanks to engineering work between London Kings Cross and Peterborough, there will be no Grand Central services at all on Sunday, August 24.
On Saturday the 5.31pm Sunderland to London Kings Cross train won’t run and neither will the 8.26 Sunderland to London Kings Cross train on Monday.
Great Northern
After 10pm on Saturday, the lines between Potters Bar and Peterborough, and between Potters Bar and Royston will be closed. A revised train service or replacement buses will be running between Potters Bar and Hitchin; Hitchin and Peterborough; Hitchin and Royston; Hertford North and Stevenage; Hitchin and St Albans City (via Hatfield); Stevenage and Luton Airport Parkway (via Hitchin) and Peterborough and Bedford (via St Neots).
The above services, as well as Great Northern Trains from London King’s Cross will also be affected all day on Sunday.
Great Western
Engineering work means that there’ll be replacement buses between Moreton-in-Marsh and Worcester Shrub Hill on Saturday and Sunday. Buses will also replace trains between Slough and Burnham in the early morning and late night on Sunday. See the full breakdown here.
Greater Anglia
On Sunday, Greater Anglia trains that normally run between Hertford East and Stratford will be diverted after Tottenham Hale to travel between Hertford East and London Liverpool Street. National Rail says anyone travelling to and from Stratford should use Greater Anglia main line services between London Liverpool Street and Stratford.
The trains that usually operate between Meridian Water and Stratford will also be cancelled.
LNER
No LNER trains are running to or from London Kings Cross on Sunday due to engineering work between Potters Bar and Peterborough. Rail replacement buses will run between Peterborough and Bedford, where you can connect with alternative trains to and from London St Pancras International.
Lumo
Due to the engineering work on Sunday, there are several changes to Lumo services to and from London Kings Cross. They are:
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08.52am London Kings Cross to Edinburgh train will start from Newcastle
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1.56pm Edinburgh to London Kings Cross train will terminate at Peterborough connecting with direct rail replacement coaches to London Kings Cross
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3.50pm Edinburgh to London Kings Cross train will terminate at Newcastle
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4.24pm London Kings Cross to Edinburgh train will start from Peterborough connecting with direct rail replacement coaches from London Kings Cross
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7.24pm London Kings Cross to Edinburgh train will start from Newcastle
All the other Lumo trains on Sunday are cancelled.
Scotrail
Engineering work means that a number of routes to and from Glasgow Central station have been amended. They include services to Carlisle, Newton, Neilston and East Kilbride. Find the full information here.
Transport for Wales
There’s engineering work happening along the line between between Caerphilly and Rhymney, meaning buses will replace trains between those two stations all weekend.
On Sunday and Monday, there’ll be no TfW trains running between Birmingham New Street and Birmingham International. Several trains will also be diverted to to engineering between Cardiff Central and Bridgend. You can see the specific services affected here.
West Midlands Railway
Buses will replace West Midlands trains between Birmingham International and Birmingham New Street on Sunday and Monday.
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