Frustrated motorists and rail passengers faced mounting problems last night as busy roads and packed trains made for a miserable Christmas getaway.

Hold-ups had built up on major roads across the country late yesterday while many people found trains completely booked.

Disruption on the railways has led to massive increases in air and coach passengers in the Christmas period.

National Express is carrying 15 to 20 per cent more passengers than this time last year, and hundreds of extra coaches are being brought in to meet demand.

Domestic flight bookings linking Newcastle with Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted airports are up 40 per cent, with ten extra services and bigger 767 planes being brought in place of 757s.

However, the AA believes, although more cars are expected on the roads than normal, there will be less freight, and traffic should move easily as it should be spread over the weekend.

The A1 and A19 are expected to be worst hit, but minor roads will be affected by shoppers and people making local visits. Roadworks were suspended from last night.

A GNER spokesman said that today would be the busiest day for people heading north from London to the region.

Half of the services from Christmas Eve through to the New Year were 50 per cent booked up, he added.

On the East Coast Mainline, GNER is running a 40 per cent service, while Virgin was only running about 80 per cent of its normal Christmas service.

Northern Spirit said there were no problems expected, while Virgin Trains reported bookings for 80 per cent of its seating for today, but that figure dropped to 20 per cent for tomorrow.

Newcastle Airport is bracing for its share of an estimated one million holidaymakers departing Britain over Christmas.

"We are expecting to be up about 14 per cent in holiday traffic," said a spokeswoman.

"As a result of the rail disruption, we've got a huge number of people using our Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted services and we expect to be up about 40 per cent."