Road works have been lifted at many locations for the holiday

Airports are expecting record numbers to pass through terminals, with 2.3 million heading to destinations such as Spain, New York, Dubai and Dublin.

On the roads, long queues were reported on major routes across the UK from Thursday afternoon.

In England, the Highways Agency has lifted road works at 27 major locations on motorways and major A-roads.

Motorists heading north to Blackpool, the Lake District and Scotland were suffering severe delays into the evening on the M6 in Lancashire after a van's petrol tank caught fire, melting the roadway between junctions 32 and 33.

Major routes heading north and south out of London, roads in the Midlands and those leading to the West Country were heavily congested, coming to a standstill in some areas, said traffic information company Trafficmaster.

It promises to be a very busy weekend Martin Wellings, Abta Easter travel information

There were also jams on the M8 through Glasgow and the M876 north of the city.

Despite the risk of showers throughout the weekend, nearly all parts of the UK should see at least some spells of settled, dry and bright weather, allowing most people to enjoy the great outdoors at some stage, says the Met Office.

Northern areas will have some showers at times, with a fresh breeze and temperatures around 13C (55F) while central parts could see the best of the weather with just a few showers, light winds and bright or sunny intervals.

Southern regions are likely to be rather cloudy but bright at times and dry in most places with temperatures reaching as high as 17C (63F).

'Leave time'

The Association of British Travel Agents (Abta) said recent cold weather had fuelled demand for warmer destinations, with Spain and its islands the most popular.

At home, places such as Devon and Cornwall are also expected to be busy.

Other popular destinations for travelling Britons this Easter included Portugal, Tunisia, Egypt, Florida, the Caribbean, Paris, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Rome and Venice.

Heathrow airport handled 214,700 passengers on Thursday and said it was expecting more than one million passengers over the Bank Holiday period. Gatwick is expecting 400,000 people through its doors between Friday and Monday.

A Heathrow spokesman advised passengers to allow plenty of time to catch their flights, and once checked in to go straight through to security.

Other airports and ferry terminals will also be extremely busy over the weekend.

BAA Scotland, which operates Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen airports said they expected to handle a record 251,300 passengers over the weekend between them.

Channel Tunnel high-speed train operator Eurostar has laid on extra trains to meet demand on its London-Paris and London-Brussels routes, and it expects to be carrying more than 150,000 passengers over the holiday.

Abta president Martin Wellings said: "Although Easter is always a busy time of year for the travel industry, there seems to be a real pent-up demand this year that we've been able to fulfil. It promises to be a very busy weekend."