Bank holiday disruption expected on M6 and West Coast Mainline

The RAC has highlighted the M6 north between Preston (Junction 31) and Lancaster (Junction 34) as one of the areas where motorists should expect delays of up to an hour, because of heavy volumes of holidaymaker traffic.

Traffic data from mobility analytics provider INRIX suggests that jams will peak today, with major routes clogging up between 11am and 4.30pm.

However, Highways England has pledged to remove more than 450 miles of cones in time for the Easter bank holiday to keep as many roads moving as freely as possible.

RAC Traffic Watch spokesman Rod Dennis said: “This week we’re expecting a significant second wave of Easter getaway traffic, following that which we saw at the start of April when schools broke up. This will mean the coming week and the bank holiday will likely be characterised by lengthy queues in some spots.”

There is some bad news for rail travellers too as Network Rail carries out work on the West Coast main line, which connects Preston and Lancaster with London. No trains will run in or out of Euston from today until Tuesday, to allow preparation work for HS2.

From Saturday until Monday afternoon, services between Preston and Crewe will be diverted via Manchester Piccadilly.

And passengers heading north to Glasgow and Edinburgh have been warned that rail replacement buses will be in operation between Saturday and Monday.

They are being advised to check virgintrains.co.uk for fuller details.

For those staying at home, the weather should offer some rewards - it’s predicted to be mostly sunny and up to 21C over the weekend in Lancashire.