Bank Holiday Travel And Weather Misery

The August bank holiday getaway has been tougher than ever with 16m vehicles on the road, the threat of a Eurotunnel strike, rail engineering works - and rain across much of the country.

A number of festivals and sporting events have increased the number of people taking to the motorways - and combined with roadworks on major routes, drivers have been faced with gridlock.

But rail services have also faced disruption.

Passengers are having to rely on one of the 3,428 replacement bus services running over the weekend, put on to compensate for engineering services.

Network Rail has stressed, however, that only 4.8% fewer trains will run over the bank holiday weekend than on a typical Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

There are also plenty of problems facing those looking to get out of the country.

French Eurotunnel workers are threatening to strike from Saturday, after demanding an 8% pay rise.

Bookings have been suspended for the Calais to Folkestone crossing on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, to safeguard journeys already booked.

Heathrow is expecting more than 852,000 passengers through its doors over the weekend, with New York, Paris, Dubai and Dublin top of the destinations list.

Sky News weather presenter Sarah Pennock said the weather would be "disappointing" for the time of year - and the outlook will not pick up until Tuesday when many people return to work.

Most of the country will experience wet weather throughout Saturday, but showers will eventually become sparser on Sunday, eventually dying out by Monday.

She added: "Temperatures will be below average and it will be unseasonably wet and windy for the north-east of Scotland.

"In north England it will be breezy and cold. The best of the sunshine will be in south and south-west parts by Monday.

"It is not going to be a scorcher, but Monday will be the most promising day of the weekend."

She added: "Disappointingly, it is not until Tuesday when most of us head back to work that we will see the unsettled conditions easing."