Drivers will face the worst Christmas traffic one week from now, according to Trafficmaster.

Its analysts predict that Thursday 21 will produce a high mix of commercial, commuter and leisure trips which could double journey times across main routes in the UK.

Trafficmaster are expecting congestions to build as early as 2.00pm and not subsiding until 7.00pm.

The worst hotspots will be:

1 M25, Eastern and Western sectors
2 the M1 around Luton and in the East Midlands
3 the Old M6 between junctions 4 and 10
4 the M60 around Manchester
5 the M1 and M621 serving Leeds
6 the A1M coming out of Gateshead and Newcastle
7 the M32 from Bristol
8 the M4 between Newport and Cardiff

Philip Hale, spokesperson at Trafficmaster explains: “Christmas is typically one of the worst times of the year for traffic volumes and each year the timing of holidays creates a slightly different challenge for drivers. The great unknown is weather, which could make the situation much worse. We'd encourage anyone intending to travel around this time to be smart about your journey - plan in advance, get up to date traffic information and alter your journey time to miss these peak periods if you can."