Bank Holiday forecast: gridlock and rain

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Forecasters said today's dry and sunny weather will give way to wet conditions tomorrow and Monday.

"The rest of the weekend is going to be something of a washout," said Jeremy Plester of MeteoGroup UK.

"It's going to be grim with just about everywhere in England and Wales getting heavy rain pretty much throughout tomorrow.

"It may be drier and brighter for some northern areas on Bank Holiday Monday, but elsewhere there will be heavy rain again.

"We could see some temperatures over the holiday weekend struggling to reach even 10c (50f)."

The May Day Bank Holiday was also hit by bad weather which came at the end of a warm spell.

The AA said around 18million vehicles would take to the roads over the weekend, causing gridlock on many routes.

The worst spots for jams are expected to be the M25, the M1 northbound, the M4 westbound, the M6 through the West Midlands and north of Manchester and the M5 in the Midlands and southbound around Bristol.

The Highways Agency has suspended roadworks at many locations but said congestion was likely on the M1 in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire.

A record 1.9million Britons will take flights over the weekend, according to the Association of British Travel Agents.

Heathrow is expecting 400,000 passengers, Gatwick 240,000, Manchester 160,000 and Stansted 150,000. Spain is the favourite destinations for shorthaul travellers with Florida the most-popular long-haul spot.

The top five city-break destinations were Paris, Amsterdam, Dublin, Rome and Prague.

Network Rail said engineering work will continue this weekend on the West Coast and East Coast mainlines but no major closures are planned.

Union bosses yesterday demanded an extra bank holiday to allow employees to do voluntary work.

The extra day off would fall in October to break up the long stretch between the summer holidays and Christmas.

The call for a "Community Day" was backed by Britain's leading voluntary organisations yesterday.

In a letter to Chancellor Gordon Brown, they said they hoped the extra day would be "a focus on celebrating and promoting voluntary community activity".

Britain currently has eight bank holidays.