Updated 16:00BST:
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Thursday 31 July: for news on the fire that shut the A9 at Narbonne on 30 July, see here (in brief – road now re-opened)!
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NEWS: heavy traffic earlier today for the first big holiday getaway, especially after a huge tanker fire restricts the main route between France and Spain. Settled down from lunchtime onwards.
GIBRALTAR FRONTIER WATCH: a quiet day, max 15mins at 12:00.
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CHANNEL DELAYS: P&O Dover-Calais, some sailings delayed 30mins.
Brittany Ferries Portsmouth-Santander ‘economie’ sailing cancelled today and tomorrow. Rejig on Portsmouth/Plymouth-Santander route 13-16 July, tech issue.
WEATHER ALERT: Red alert heavy rain south east Poland. Amber alert storm/heavy rain Germany, Austria, Poland.
WEATHER: fair Mediterranean. Showers and rain to North but warm.
MAJOR ROAD WORKS: A50 at Eindhoven closed northbound 11-19 July, southbound 19-28 July. Currently 40min delay northbound.
MAJOR TRAFFIC DELAYS: A7 northbound from Hannover, incident at Schwarmstedt, delay down to 50mins. A31 northbound to Emstunnel at Leer, delay northbound down to 25mins.
A2 northbound to Gotthard Tunnel, queue down to 2km, 25mins.
Earlier: A7 southbound Lyon-Avignon, heavy traffic total delay down to 15mins. A11 southbound to Angers, earlier accident, delay from Durtal down to 10mins. A10 southbound to Bordeaux, earlier accident at Saintes, delay down to 10mins. A61 eastbound Carcassone-Narbonne, earlier accident at Lezignan delay down to 15mins. A9 southbound Beziers-Narbonne direction Spain, accident (see below) delay down to 15mins. Now no delay A3 Wurzburg>Regensburg, A8 eastbound to Linz, A3 eastbound Frankfurt-Wurzburg, A5 northbound from Basel,
See Travel/Traffic/Weather for more.
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A tanker carrying 36,000 litres of diesel caught fire on the A9 at Agde in the South of France yesterday afternoon, the main route to and from Spain, shutting the road in both directions. It reopened fully northbound late in the evening and finally two lanes southbound on Saturday morning after being repaved overnight. Along with heavy holiday traffic long delays are to be expected today southbound. Photo @VINCIAutoroutes. UPDATE: actually delays started to reduce by midday, clearly due to drivers diverting via Toulouse-Carcassone-Narbonne where delays reached 2h30 at 12:00 before both tailed off early afternoon.
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