Bank holiday traffic nightmare

Motorists can expect madness on the roads over the Bank Holiday weekend due to a number of sporting and musical events.

The FA Cup final will draw more than 70,000 Arsenal and Chelsea supporters to Cardiff, while 250,000 show jumping fans will head to Gloucestershire for the Badminton Horse trials.

A further 45,000 will attend the Essential Music Festival in Bristol. Further crowds are expected in Cardiff on Monday for a Bob Dylan concert while thousands more families plan weekend breaks to seaside resorts and beauty spots.

Motor organisations have warned that roads to the west of the capital will bear the brunt of the exodus with traffic on the M4 and M5 particularly heavy. The traffic will be made worse by encouraging weather predictions, with blue skies and sunshine widely expected.

An RAC spokesman said: "If the weather holds up, the M5 will turn into a caravan trail and the M4 will be choca-bloc." The closure of Paddington station will also cause considerable disruption to travel to Heathrow and extensive disruption is also expected for those going to Stansted, due to cancellations of the express service from Liverpool Street for long stretches of the weekend.