Thousands of people are getting away for Christmas

Heavy fog, which had left thousands of passengers stranded on Friday night, caused further disruption to services at Heathrow and Southampton airports.

Rail travellers could yet face problems because the West Coast Mainline is closing for five days from 27 December.

And on the roads, the busiest days after Friday's mass getaway are expected to be 27 and 28 December.

Widespread fog is forecast again on Sunday morning.

Freezing rain

Thousands of passengers were stranded on Friday night as flights were grounded at Southampton and Gatwick, and others to Stansted were diverted.

The knock-on effects meant that 25 flights were delayed by up to two hours at Southampton airport on Saturday.

On the same day six flights were cancelled at Heathrow, which saw 215,000 travellers use its terminals.

Fog disrupted flights from Gatwick and Southampton airports on Friday, mostly to Europe, with all flights leaving Southampton after 1700 GMT stopped, and arrivals diverted to other airports.

A total of 16 departures had been cancelled at Gatwick airport on Friday, with as many as 2,000 people affected. Incoming flights also had to be diverted away from London City.

Although flights gradually returned to normal on Saturday, the Met Office has issued severe weather warnings for north-west England and most of Scotland, warning of freezing rain and icy roads.

UK TRAVEL MAP BBC Travel News The festive travel front line

BBC weather forecaster Rob McElwee said fog would cover much of England on Saturday, especially from Yorkshire to Oxfordshire.

Ice is expected in Scotland, Northumbria and Cumbria.

Frost is expected across the country on Saturday night, and extensive fog is also forecast for Sunday morning and possibly longer in England and Wales.

On the roads, the Highways Agency is suspending roadworks on several motorways and major A-roads in England over the holiday period, but roadworks remain on some key routes, including the M1 and M25.

The agency said on Saturday afternoon that there were no major problems affecting travel.

Adam Cracknell from the RAC said there would be a high volume of traffic on the roads on the 27 and 28 December because of the post-Christmas sales.

Strikes and sales

On the trains, Saturday is expected to be very busy, with people due to travel after taking two weeks off work.

After Christmas, the West Coast Mainline is to close for longer than expected after Network Rail under-estimated the amount of work being planned over the Christmas break.

As a result, engineering work beginning on 27 December will now last until New Year's Eve, a day later than originally planned.

The work will affect any services that would have passed through Rugby, disrupting travel between London and Scotland, Manchester and Birmingham.

These are mostly Virgin Train's services, but the closure also affects some London Midland and First ScotRail Sleeper services.

HAVE YOUR SAY I'm travelling from the bedroom via the stairs into the lounge. I might go exploring in the kitchen and, weather permitting, even sit outside on the patio Geoff Molloy, UK Send us your comments

Alternative services will be provided either by other train operating companies or replacement coaches.

Meanwhile, UK airport workers have voted for industrial action, which will be taking place on 7, 14 and 17 January.

The dispute with BAA, which operates seven UK airports including Heathrow and Gatwick, is over the closure of final salary pensions to new employees.

A record 3.5m Britons are expected to head abroad for Christmas, with a total of 1.2m passengers expected to leave from London's Heathrow airport between 21 December and 2 January.

Over the same period some 600,000 are expected to pass through Gatwick, while 270,000 are flying from Manchester, 170,000 from Luton and 130,000 from Birmingham.

Eurostar trains will have carried 150,000 passengers from London to the continent by 2 January.

Top city-break destinations include Paris, Amsterdam, Dublin and New York, according to the Association of British Travel Agents (Abta).