Thousands are off to sunny Europe

Airports are today braced for one of the busiest weekends of the year as the annual summer exodus from Britain gets under way.

Schools have finished for the summer, and tens of thousands of families are expected to head abroad today and tomorrow.

Roads are expected to be busy, and motoring organisations warned that the M3 and M4 out of London would be congested.

Many families will be heading for Spain where temperatures will rise as high as 47C (117F) in a heatwave expected to last for a week.

Those at home will see the temperature in London and the South-East rise to26C (79F) tomorrow. The hot spell is expected to last at least until the middle of next week.

Gatwick is expecting more than 473,000 passengers to pass through between today and Monday on their way to Spain, Greece and Tenerife. More than 900,000 will fly via Heathrow to destinations such as New York and Amsterdam.

At home more than nine million will take to the roads this weekend. Hotspots include the M25 between J12 and J14 and the M4/A34 interchange at Chieveley, near Newbury.