Travel chaos as 18m hit the roads for Christmas getaway - and airports face strike action

The great getaway begins today, with 18million taking to the roads as they prepare to spend Christmas with loved ones. However it is expected to lead to heavy congestion.

Railway engineering work over the next ten days will force the closure of two of the country's major lines.

And travel plans could be in further disarray after temeperatures plunged to minus 10C last night, making road conditions treacherous.

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And while a record 3.5million Britons will be heading abroad this festive period, many could find themselves stranded because airport workers are threatening to cause chaos with a nationwide strike.

Virgin Atlantic cabin crew also announced they would carry out two 48-hour strikes starting on January 9th yesterday.

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More families than ever are giving Britain a miss during the holiday period - from tomorrow to January 2, a total of 1.2million passengers are expected to leave from Heathrow alone.

Figures for other UK airports include Gatwick 600,000 passengers departing, Stansted 360,000, Glasgow 110,000, Edinburgh 110,000 and Aberdeen 42,000.

In addition 270,00 will fly from Manchester, 170,000 from Luton and 130,000 from Birmingham.

However, aviation officials have warned that strike action could leave Britain effectively grounded and ruin countless family breaks.

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Airport workers in the transport union Unite are today expected to reveal a massive majority in favour of taking industrial action that will cripple seven of Britain's biggest airports.

The ballot result will be announced along with dates for strike action.

By law unions must give seven days' notice of a strike, which means action could begin any time from December 28 but experts predict it will be early in the New Year.

More than 5,500 workers - including key security and firefighting staff at the Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Southampton, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen -have been voting on a campaign of industrial action aimed at protecting their final salary pension scheme, which the Spanish owners of BAA recently closed to new members.

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A strike at the seven BAA airports would ground the majority of flights in and out of the UK - affecting 393,000 passengers a day.

Only independent airports such as Manchester, East Midlands and John Lennon Airport would stay open.

As the prospect of widespread chaos grew last night, airport operator BAA said: "All BAA airports are doing extensive contingency planning in the event of any strike action."

It refused to go into details.

But a senior executive at one major airline warned: "The strike vote is expected to be by a massive majority.

"Unite wouldn't call a strike ballot it couldn't win. But BAA can't allow a strike to go ahead.

"It would be chaotic. A deal will be struck. But it may go to the wire."

Meanwhile, Virgin Atlantic cabin crew announced yesterday they are to stage two 48-hour strikes in a row over pay.

Thousands will walk out at 6am on January 9 and again at 6am on January 16. The airline said the strike will affect just three flights when members of the Unite union walk out.

Of those joining the festive exodus abroad, more than 200,000 will cross the Channel by ferry or train.

The Canary Islands are high on the list of destinations of those travelling overseas during the festive period, said travel association Abta.

Egypt, Goa and Dubai are also proving popular, as are traditional ski destinations.

Those whose travels are confined to the UK will be pleased to learn that the Highways Agency is suspending roadworks on a number of motorway and major A-road sites over the holiday period, but roadworks remain on some key routes, including the M1 and M25.

Some four million rail passengers will face crowded trains and disrupted journeys on the railways today.

Yesterday MPs condemned the '58 hour shut-down' of rail and bus services over Christmas. Police in Dorset warned drivers of the perilous state of some of Britain's roads yesterday saying they were 'like an ice rink'.