Travellers hit by 'long queues' for planes and trains in the Midlands during Easter getaway
Travellers using airports, train stations and roads have been left waiting in "long queues" during the Easter getaway.
Some passengers at Birmingham Airport shared pictures on social media which appeared to show queues early on Thursday morning.
Joe Clifford, 23, who was flying to Malaga in Spain, told the PA news agency it took him about an hour to get through security due to “very long queues”.
A spokesman for Birmingham Airport said: "Another busy start with 15,000 customers booked to fly out of BHX today (Thursday, April 14) on their Easter breaks.
"Once people cleared our boarding pass gate, average wait times for security this morning ranged from 15 minutes to just over half an hour as queues ebbed and flowed.
“Yesterday (Wed April 13th) 11,300 customer flew out of BHX. Of those, 83% were through security in under 20 minutes.”
Thousands of people are expected to fly in and out of Birmingham over the Easter weekend.
Al Titterington, terminal operations director for Birmingham Airport, said: “We’re expecting more than 150,000 customers to fly in and out of Birmingham Airport over the Easter weekend.
“Our message to departing customers is arrive at the airport to check in, or drop off baggage, at the time your airline advises.
"And ‘help us help you’ keep queues moving by presenting compliant hand luggage - removing all liquids, gels, pastes and electrical items - at the security x-ray scanners.”
Birmingham Airport has also issued some further information.
BHX's most popular Easter destinations are Dublin, Amsterdam, Dubai, Malaga and Tenerife.
On average 28,000 customers a day are expected to go through BHX over the Easter fortnight.
Over Easter, BHX is deploying colleagues in support roles to provide extra help to customers, including reminders on making sure hand luggage is compliant before they go into the security check zone.
As a result of travel restrictions imposed during the Covid-19 pandemic, 43% of Birmingham Airport’s employees were made redundant.
Government lifted Covid-19 travel restrictions with no prior warning in mid-February this year.
In anticipation of this, Birmingham Airport began a recruitment drive in November with the aim of increasing numbers of key roles, including security officers.
Birmingham Airport is now training its newest recruited security officers who will be on duty soon, to assist with the security search function.
Aviation data firm Cirium said 9,212 flights with 1.6 million seats are scheduled to depart from UK airports between Good Friday and Easter Monday.
The number of flights is 78% of the total for Easter 2019, before the coronavirus crisis affected travel.
Rail passengers have been warned of delays as Network Rail carries out 530 engineering projects costing a total of £83 million.
This includes the closure of the West Coast Main Line between London Euston and Milton Keynes for four days from Good Friday due to upgrades of the existing line and HS2 work.
Parts of the railway between Birmingham International station and Coventry will also be closed, as will lines around Crewe station.
Those at London St Pancras said there were long queues for services to Europe on Thursday morning.
One passenger heading for France said he had waited for over and hour due to staff shortages.
Elsewhere, National Highways said there were 90-minute delays near the Dartford Tunnel in Kent due to a broken down lorry and a spillage.
Rod Dennis, RAC traffic spokesman, said: “Although we’re expecting the biggest number of Easter getaway trips by car tomorrow – around 4.6m – it’s clear some drivers are keen to make an early escape ahead of the bank holiday.
“As well as the closure of the coastbound M20 for Operation Brock Zero, earlier collisions are causing problems on the south-eastern M25 and roads connecting with it, as well as on the A303 in Wiltshire.
“From a breakdown perspective, we’re seeing high demand for our service across northern England, especially around the Lake District, as well as the coastal areas of West Wales.”
Some 27.6 million car journeys are expected to take place over the bank holiday weekend, according to the AA.
Dover-Calais sailings by P&O Ferries are also suspended, with large queues of lorries forming on roads approaching the Port of Dover.
A spokesperson for the firm said: “We apologise unreservedly to all customers whose scheduled journeys with us between Dover and Calais have been cancelled whilst we are unable to sail.
“It is only fair and right that we make alternative arrangements for those customers, which include transferring them on to our Hull-Europoort service to Rotterdam, or booking them on to services with Brittany Ferries between Portsmouth and Caen. ”
It said this would come at no extra cost for customers, with mileage expenses reimbursed and a 25% discount on the original fee.