UK NEWS

STEER CLEAR OF THE DIY STAMPEDE

Bank holiday travellers will face traffic jams

Tuesday April 29,2008

By John Ingham Transport Editor

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BANK holiday travellers will face traffic jams triggered by the credit crunch, experts warned yesterday.

The RAC forecast massive snarl-ups around major out-of-town DIY stores as cash-strapped home owners opt to improve instead of move.

At the same time, rail travellers face disruption as Network Rail uses this weekend for engineering works on busy lines.

The £75million project will revive memories of the Christmas and New Year line upgrades which overran, causing chaos for thousands of passengers. The Met Office gave a preliminary forecast of sunny spells and showers over the weekend.

On the roads, the RAC predicts congestion hotspots at DIY stores, claiming 86 per cent of home owners plan to visit home improvement stores over the weekend.

It says the “surge” in DIY comes as a fifth of UK home owners say they have been put off moving house this year in light of the credit crunch.

Long queues are also expected around shopping centres such as Bluewater in Kent and the Trafford Centre in Greater Manchester.

An RAC spokesman said: “May Day Bank Holiday is traditionally a busy time on the roads but this year’s DIY mania will see an unusual surge in congestion. We are urging drivers to remove some of the stress of DIY trips by staggering trips to avoid the Saturday lunchtime rush.”

He said drivers should pack their cars carefully – or risk their lives. The RAC warns that overfilling the car will obscure the driver’s line of sight – and a 20lb purchase would weigh the equivalent of a ton in a crash.

Network Rail is also carrying out work on the Great Eastern Line just outside London’s Liverpool Street station to install an 800-ton bridge for the new East London Line.

And on the South-West Main Line a new signalling system will be brought into use over the weekend at Basingstoke and further points renewals will be undertaken at Clapham Junction.

HOTLIPS

29.04.08, 9:28pm

CHUBBSfb IS HERE FOR YOU IF YOU NEED A LITTLE DIY,
I COULD GIVE YOU A 60 MINUTE MAKEOVER!

• Posted by: CHUBBSfb • Report Comment

NICE ONE

29.04.08, 8:59pm

CHUBBS AND CRAZY HORSE.

• Posted by: hotlips2 • Report Comment

DIY

29.04.08, 8:18pm

or do it yourself is just another name for masturbation either way you end up f*****g it up.

• Posted by: crazyhorse • Report Comment

COMMENT REMOVED

29.04.08, 3:36pm

** comment removed **

• Posted by: CHUBBSfb • Report Comment

MASSIVE SNARL-UPS

29.04.08, 12:37pm

Shylock Brown will be rubbing his hands with glee then.

Its all a Labour conspiracy to extract more and more fuel tax out of us so that Brown can redistribute our hard-earned money to "needy causes".

• Posted by: Peter_Pan • Report Comment