Millions head off for Bank Holiday weekend

LONDON, Aug 26 (Reuters) Millions of Britons were taking to the roads and skies on Friday to make the most of the long Bank Holiday weekend.

The Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) said it estimated 1.7 million people would leave behind the current wet weather in Britain to seek sunnier climates abroad.

Around one million travellers are expected to leave airports yesterday in the southeast alone, with another 400,000 flying from regional airports.

Eurostar and Eurotunnel trains are expected to be busy while hundreds of thousands will head across the Channel by ferry.

Mallorca, the Canary Islands, Spain and the Greek islands are the most popular destinations, ABTA said.

Meanwhile about 30 million cars are expected on Britain's roads over the weekend, with the Highways Agency saying it had taken action to make journeys easier.

The agency said it would have its traffic officer fast response service available on all English motorways to deal with a predicted 5,000 incidents.

It also said new lanes had opened since May on the M5, M4 and M60, while road work schemes had been suspended in 12 areas, freeing up a total of 50 miles of roads.

However traffic restrictions will remain at 34 locations, covering 61.8 miles.

Motorists can get the latest information at http://www.highways.gov.uk/trafficinfo or by phoning the Highways Agency on 08457 504030.

For those staying at home, forecasters predict unsettled weather over the weekend with most areas seeing rain and some brighter spells.

Reuters MQA RN0838