Greater Manchester motorway identified as Christmas traffic hotspot - best times to travel and when to avoid

A Greater Manchester motorway has been identified as a potential hot-spot for congestion as drivers hit the roads this Christmas.

UK drivers are expected to make 21million leisure trips between Monday and Christmas Eve, with 60 per cent of those crammed into the last three days before the big day. Traffic will climb slowly before jumping from 2.2m trips on Thursday to 3.2m on Friday, the last working day before Christmas Day, according to a study of 2,100 drivers from the RAC and transport analytics specialists INRIX.

Some 13.5m journeys by car are expected between Friday and Christmas Eve, up 20 per cent on last year. Congestion is likely to peak on Friday as drivers embarking on getaway trips compete for space with commuters and business traffic.

It is believed the worst queues will be on the M25 clockwise between junction 7 (for the M23/Gatwick airport) and junction 16 (for the M40/Birmingham) on Friday. Other spots identified as likely to suffer major delays included the M1 north from Woburn, Bedfordshire to Daventry, Northamptonshire and the M6 south from Wigan to Stafford. The stretch from J27 of the M6 has been identified as being particularly bad on Christmas Eve.

During the weekend before Christmas, between noon and 2pm is expected to be the busiest time to travel, with the best times to set out being before 11am and after 6pm on December 22 and December 23 if you want to get to your loved ones with fewer tailbacks.

RAC spokesman Alice Simpson said: “Since Christmas falls on a Monday this year, there’s no need for drivers to use annual leave for getaway trips as they can travel over the weekend before. For that very reason, our research suggests these days will be the busiest times to drive, so we urge people to set off as early as possible on Saturday and Sunday."