Summer exodus! 14m cars on road and 1.4m at Heathrow this weekend

Beware of Britain's giant traffic jam - because around 14 million cars are set to hit the road this weekend as school holiday breaks get underway.

Families are being warned of heavy congestion on major routes to the coast in the south west, at cross-Channel ports like Dover and at major airports.

In the north, there's likely to be congestion through Staffordshore and Cheshire into Lancashire.

And the airports are set to be choc-a-block too with thousands of people jetting off on sunshine breaks.

Heathrow airport is expecting 1.4 million passengers to take off just over this weekend, with more than 124,000 predicted to fly out on Sunday alone.

Travel organisation Abta said around two million people will be heading overseas this weekend.
It said a 250,000 are expected to fly from Gatwick, 135,000 from Stansted, 210,000 from Manchester, 65,000 from Birmingham, 26,000 from Leeds Bradford and 70,000 from Luton.

And where is everyone off to? Spain is still the Brits' favourite holiday destination, with the Balearic and Canary Islands also seeing a flurry of tourists.

Mark Tanzer, Abta chief executive, told the Daily Mail: 'This weekend is one the busiest of the year as families head off overseas for a well-earned summer break.

'This year, traditional favourites in the Eurozone like Spain and Portugal have bounced back after two tough years, with customers taking advantage of some of the lowest day-to-day expenses overseas.'

But, it seems, the sun in Britain has decided to return right on cue.

Weather experts are predicting a bright and dry weekend, with the sun pushing away the heavy showers.

The best of the weather will be on Sunday, with temperatures soaring to as high as 23c (73f) in the West of England, Wales and Scotland.

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