White Christmas dreams dashed

Dec 25 2009

Holiday makers dreaming of a white Christmas are likely to be disappointed.

But at least the AA and the bookmakers will be pleased if the country stays clear of snow.

The severe weather of the past week has caused chaos on the roads, as well as disrupting flights and rail travel.

Many people have stayed at home rather than making the usual Christmas journeys.

Andrew Howard, head of road safety at the AA, said it would therefore be interesting to see whether people opted to travel on Christmas Day itself.

He said: "The big question has to be whether the journeys that haven't happened are shopping and local ones or the big, long distance Christmas getaways. They could all be going today, because it looks as though they haven't been yet."

Before the big freeze, 32% of the population were expecting to travel more than 20 miles on December 23, while 28% expected to cover that distance yesterday, and 15% were expecting to make a fairly long journey on Christmas Day.

But the weather may have delayed those plans, meaning more people on the roads during Christmas Day.

Mr Howard predicted a number of problem areas, including parts of the M25, the M6 from Manchester to Birmingham, the M1 junctions 10-14, and the M60 around Manchester.

Paul Mott, of the Press Association's weather division, MeteoGroup, said: "Christmas Day will be another cold day around the UK but there is unlikely to be much in the way of snow."