Companies delivering packages over the weekend of December 18th should expect traffic jams across major routes all throughout the UK.

The warning comes from the Freight Transport Association, which has said that it will be trying its best to ease problems of congestion during the Christmas period, reports Logistics Manager.

However, Friday 18th December is expected to be the busiest day during the festive period, as it's estimated that more than 14 million people will be on the roads.

To try to help, over 400 miles of roadworks are set to be cleared from motorways and A-roads during the holidays, but this weekend will not be privy to such luxury.

Inconvenience is not the only problem that these traffic delays will cause, as the delays are also expensive for logistics companies.

Giving his thoughts on this, head of road network policy Malcolm Bingham said: "It costs £1 a minute for a 44-tonne HGV to stand still in traffic and there is also the knock-on effect when contracts can't be delivered on time and deadlines are missed."