With festival season in full swing, Brits have been told the major UK roads which are predicted to have severe delays and standstill traffic throughout the summer.
Motoring experts at LeaseCar.uk have researched the roads most likely to be heavily affected by festivals and have warned drivers to find alternative routes to avoid summer travel misery.
Festival | Date | Location | Possible Affected Roads |
Glastonbury | June 21-25 | Worthy Farm, Somerset | A37
A361 A303 |
Love Supreme | June 30 – July 2 | Glynde Place, East Sussex | A27
A26 New Rd |
Stendhal Festival | July 6 – 8 | BallyMully Cottage Farm, Limavady, N. Ireland | A6
A37 Ballyavelin Rd |
Wireless | July 7- 9 | Finsbury Park, London. | A503 Seven Sisters Rd |
Big Love Festival | July 14 – 16 | Monmouthshire, Wales | A472
B4598 Porthycarne St/Abergavenny Rd |
Latitude | Jul 20 – 23 | Henham Park, Suffolk | A145 and A12 |
Camp Bestival | July 27- 30 | Lulworth Castle, Dorset | B3070 |
Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival | July 27-29 | Belladrum Estate, Beauly, Scotland | A835
|
Wilderness | Aug 3-6 | Cornbury Park, Oxfordshire | B4022 |
Boomtown | Aug 9-13 | Matterley Estate near Winchester, Hampshire | A31 |
Boardmasters | Aug 9-13 | Newquay, Cornwall | A30 and A39
Watergate Road B3276 |
Houghton Festival | Aug 10-13 | Houghton Hall, Norfolk | A148 |
All Points East | Aug 18-28 | East – Victoria Park, London | (No parking)
A12 A11 |
Lost Village | Aug 24-28 | Norton Disney, Lincolnshire | A46 |
Reading Festival | Aug 25-27 | Richfield Avenue, Reading | M4, A329, A33,
Town centre |
Leeds Festival | Aug 25-27 | Bramham Park, Leeds | A1(M) A64 |
Connect | Aug 25-27 | Royal Highland Showgrounds, Edinburgh | M8 M9 Glasgow Road |
Creamfields | Aug 24 – 27 | Daresbury Estate, Cheshire | Chester Road
A56
M56 |
Mint Festival | Sept 16 – 17 | Newsam Green Farm, Leeds | M1
Newsam Green Road
Pontefract Lane
Bullerthorpe Lane |
The UK hosts some of the most notable festivals in the world, with the largest events, like Glastonbury, attracting over 200,000 visitors.
The latest figures show that concert and festival attendance in the UK exceeded over 33 million, but recent years have shown the roads can’t cope with the extra traffic the events bring.
For those attending the festivals, local to the area, or just planning to pass through, the influx of people causes significant disruption and congestion.
Already this year Download Festival at Donington Park saw travel misery for thousands who were stuck in queues reportedly lasting 13 hours across the M1, A42, A453, and A50.
Drivers attempting to drive through areas with large festivals can expect to be hit with delays lasting hours as festival-goers enter and exit in droves.
Anyone planning to travel near Glastonbury and through Somerset, between June 21-25 should think twice and especially make sure to avoid the A37 and A361, which is notorious for long queues of traffic and delays.
With the festival season just beginning, drivers are urged to research before planning holidays away and road trips that could involve passing through highly congested roads.
Last year, there were also extreme delays for revellers heading to and from Creamfields in Daresbury along the M56 and A56, which is to be expected again this year.
Drivers in the Cornwall area should also stay clear of local roads while Boardmasters is on, especially the A30 and A39, which racked up shocking 16-hour traffic jams in 2021.
Festivals being held in remote areas, such as the Lost Village in Lincolnshire, Wilderness Festival in Oxfordshire, and Glastonbury in Somerset, can also expect long queues on smaller local back roads and should be avoided if possible.
Glastonbury festival organisers have told festival-goers to avoid using local roads and stick to the main roads because even though it’s a few extra miles travelled, it can save hours in queues on the more minor roads.
Tim Alcock from LeaseCar.uk said: “Roads up and down the country are guaranteed to be extremely busy when there is a festival on.
“Hundreds of thousands of Brits travel to some of the most remote locations in the countryside, driving along paths which are not used to heavy traffic and congestion, causing significant disruption and delays.
“Drivers who are not heading to a festival this year should research beforehand to understand when to avoid certain roads which are guaranteed to be jam-packed.
“There is nothing worse than getting stuck in a traffic jam, especially while the weather is boiling hot throughout the summer, and the miles and miles of congestion often last hours during the festival weekend.
“Severe traffic congestion is expected by those attending music festivals, but for Brits just going about their day to day, it’s important to research and make note of the routes which will be especially busy on certain weekends of the year and try to avoid them.
“Using our festival road guide is a good way to understand which roads to keep away from to prevent any traffic misery this summer.”
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