The great getaway could turn into a nightmare crawl this weekend with part of the East Coast Mainline shut and an estimated six million motorists on the roads.

With generally fine weather forecast, motoring organisations said bank holiday jams could be worse than usual.

The East Coast Mainline between Newark and Grantham was closed from 1am today and will not open until 5.30am on Tuesday. Part of the West Coast Mainline is also shut.

About 40 per cent of people in the region are expected to take a weekend break, with the most popular destinations being Scotland and the Lake District.

And, although the Highways Agency has promised to remove as many roadworks as possible on England's motorway and trunk roads, there will still be works on sections of the M1, M4, M5, M6, M11 and M25.

In the North-East, the main trunk road works will be on the A1(M) at Barton, near Darlington.

A spokeswoman for the Highways Agency said although one lane is closed, the hard shoulder will be open to minimise delays.

Graham Webb, business manager of AA Roadwatch, said: "Traffic volumes could be high, especially with the rail repairs. We predict it will be worse than it would normally be on a bank holiday."

Teesside Airport will cater for more than 6,000 passengers - ten per cent up on last year - and an estimated 50,000 will pass through Newcastle Airport.

But both airports said they were not expecting any delays.

A total of 1.6 million people are expected to be travelling abroad this weekend.