Easter travel – live: Bank holiday chaos as drivers face 20-mile queues on M4 and M5 and delays at Dover

Almost 200 flood warnings and alerts are in place across the UK.

As of Friday morning, 163 flood alerts had been issued by the Environment Agency (EA), meaning flooding in those areas is possible, while 30 flood warnings were in place in areas where flooding is expected.

Chris Woodroofe, managing director of Manchester airport, has been giving advice to travellers heading abroad this weekend.

Speaking to The Independent’s daily travel podcast, the airport boss said: “There's been a lot of talk in the news about the new liquids and laptops rules. The reality is that pretty much every UK airport is in the process of changing. So if you're coming to an airport, do make sure you still get your liquids and your laptops ready to come out of your bag.

“If you come to [Manchester airport] Terminal 2 today, there's a reasonable chance you'll go through one of those new lanes, and that's great. It just means you don't have to take the things out of your bag.

“We're in the middle of a £1.3 billion transformation programme. In the next 12 months we are going to spend half a billion pounds on improving Terminal 2, investing in those new security scanning machines and really pushing on to make Manchester airport the place the people in the North can be proud of.”

Listen to the full episode here:

Once again queues have built up for French passport control at the Port of Dover, where frontier formalities are carried out before boarding ferries to France. Since Brexit, officials are required to scrutinise and stamp UK passports.

The port is warning of two-hour delays.

P&O Ferries has tweeted: "Ahoy travellers. We are aware of the queues in Dover. Please rest assured that if you miss your sailing, we will put you on the next available ship once you reach check in."

The great Easter getaway could see travellers caught up in delays by road, ferry, rail and air. In a normal year there would be a gap between most schools breaking up and the long weekend. But with Easter falling so early the two are combined. Term is ending at many schools on Thursday 28 March, putting extra pressure on transportation.

At least three major UK airports – Bristol, Newcastle and Edinburgh – have told The Independent this will be their busiest Easter ever. Some airlines are predicting record numbers for the spell between Good Friday and Easter Monday. Geneva routes will be extremely busy with winter sports fans, while Malaga, Alicante, Faro and Tenerife are the leading spring sunshine holiday destinations.

Among city breaks, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Dublin, Paris and Rome are the most popular. Dubai, Orlando and New York are the key longer-haul destinations.

Simon Calder, Travel Correspondent reports:

Since Brexit, the rules on passport validity for British visitors to the European Union have tightened.

Gone are the days when you could travel to the EU at any point before your travel document expired; the UK is now a “third country”, with rules to match.

Added confusion has come in the form of the UK’s own HM Passport Office, which has continued to give out incorrect information regarding child passport expiry dates.

These are the key questions and answers based on EU rules: