Travellers escape UK's cold spring

Thousands of people are escaping the dismal British weather and seeking sun for the May bank holiday weekend, experts have said.

Thousands of families are heading abroad to escape the end of what the Met Office say could be one of the coldest springs in the last 30 years.

But some are being affected by a backlog at London's Heathrow airport following the emergency landing on Friday by a British Airways jet which turned back shortly into a flight to Oslo.

Two fatal crashes also closed major roads in the West Country on Saturday morning, including a woman killed after driving the wrong way up a motorway.

A woman died after driving the wrong way up the M5, Avon and Somerset Police said. The woman, aged in her 20s or 30s, started driving her Ford Ka north on the southbound carriageway between Weston-super-Mare and Clevedon at 12.30am.

The A30 was also closed near Hayle in west Cornwall after a 38-year-old man died in a crash. He was pronounced dead at the scene following the single-vehicle accident at 3am, while his female passenger was taken to the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro with minor injuries, a Devon and Cornwall police spokesman said.

Mark Tanzer, the ABTA chief executive said families were heading abroad for high temperatures and sun as the bank holiday weekend coincides with the half term school holiday.

"Families are flying to Spain, in particular the Balearic and Canary islands and those heading to Turkey are in for a scorcher, with temperatures set to hit 40 degrees next week," he said. "North Africa is also popular at this time of year offering guaranteed warmth and sunshine."

Early figures from the Met Office show spring (March, April and May) this year is on course to be the coldest since 1979. Frequent east and northerly winds brought cold air to the UK from polar and northern European regions, resulting in a very cold March, while April was below average temperature and May is on course to be the same, a spokesman said.