A MAJOR motorway is set to close for an entire weekend causing travel chaos as thousands will be forced to use diversions.

Motorists planning to use the M4 next month will be frustrated to learn that a stretch of the motorway will be fully closed off for a number of days.

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A stretch of the M4 will be closed for a number of days next month (stock)[/caption]

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The M4 will be closed in both directions between junctions 18 and 19 for an entire weekend (stock)[/caption]

Major disruption is set to hit north of Bristol over the weekend of March 21.

When and where?

Drivers will be impacted from 7pm on Friday, March 21, to 6am on Monday, March 24.

The motorway will be closed in both directions between junctions 18 (Bath) and 19 (M32).

It comes as officials demolish the A432 Badminton Road Bridge.

National Highways has warned of severe disruption with up to 4,000 vehicles using this section of motorway every hour over peak weekend travel periods.

Diversions and travel advice

While there will be diversions in place to avoid the closure, drivers are urged to entirely avoid the area.

National Highways has also suggested drivers plan their journeys for different times to avoid busy periods and if possible, the closure time.

Those travelling westbound will be given the following diversion:

• Exit the M4 at junction 18 and from the roundabout take the A46 towards Bath
• At the A46/A420 junction past Pennsylvania, take the A420 towards Warmley
• At the A420/A4174 junction in Warmley take the A4174 to the M32
• Join the motorway at junction 1 and head to the M4 junction 19

Drivers travelling eastbound should follow this diversion in reverse.

Meanwhile, cyclists and pedestrians who cross over this motorway section using the road bridge will no longer be able to do so from March 7.

As National Highways prepares to demolish the bridge, its closure will be put in place before the motorway is affected.

There will also be an exclusion zone put in place around the bridge and the public are reminded to not attempt to access the site.

National Highways Route Manager Sean Walsh said, “This is one of the busiest sections of motorway in the South West which is why we are giving drivers as much notice as possible so they’re able to plan their journeys well in advance.

“We carefully plan our schemes to limit any inconvenience, but sometimes it’s not possible to carry out the work that’s needed without a closure.

“Our message for anyone who plans to travel on the M4 around Bristol is to avoid the area if you can – if that’s not possible, allow yourself plenty of extra time to complete your journey via our signed diversion routes and expect delays.”

M25 Chaos

The news comes as drivers are also facing a string of disruptions on the country’s busiest motorway after a nine month delay thanks to “extreme weather.”

Millions of car journeys will be thrown into chaos as National Highways pushes ahead with efforts to improve the M25 causing eight-days of closures.

The motorway will first face disruption between February 21 and February 24, as all J10 entry and exit slip roads are closed. 

The section will then be closed, in both directions, between J10 and J11, from 7-10 March and 21-24 March. 

Over the course of these closures, old bridges will be demolished and removed.

Closures will begin at 9pm on Friday and the roads will only reopen at 6am on Monday. 

The A3 northbound will face disruption between 11-14 April, alongside the Cobham roundabout. 

A JUDGE slammed the “eye-watering” £210million paid to advisers working on Thames Water after reluctantly approving a £3billion lifeline.

The restructuring plan for debt-laden Thames will see bondholders provide £1.5billion of rescue financing and potentially £1.5billion more debt at a 9.75 per cent interest rate.

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A judge has approved a £3billion lifeline for Thames Water[/caption]

A legal battle was brought by junior bondholders and campaigners who accused the firm of being “held to ransom”.

In a 178-page ruling, Mr Justice Leech yesterday said the restructuring of the UK’s biggest water firm could proceed.

If he had ruled against it, Thames would have been taking a big step towards insolvency, with the Government stepping in.

The judge slammed the mismanagement of Thames and said costs of the debt and adviser fees were “very high”.

He also highlighted well over half of the loans would “go round in a circle and back into the pockets” of the creditors, who loaded Thames with £1.4billion of debt in the first place.

Mr Justice Leech said: “Customers who are struggling with their bills will be horrified at these costs and mystified how the Thames Water Group has been able to fund them or why it has agreed to do so.”

Matthew Topham, at campaign group We Own It, said: “This is nothing but a stay of execution for Thames Water.

“The privatised company will limp on for a few more months like a profit-thirsty zombie.”

Thames, which already has £16billion of debt, this week filed a separate request to the competition regulator after arguing a 35 per cent increase in household bills was not enough.

It is pushing for closer to a 53 per cent jump.

Mr Justice Leech yesterday said he “might have been tempted to refuse to sanction” the plan, but there was a “public interest in facilitating the rescue of struggling companies”.

Mark Lloyd, chief executive of charity The Rivers Trust, said: “A large proportion of customer bills will be spent on paying financiers rather than improving the environment.”

BUYING UP THE FAMILY SILVER

A SCRAMBLE for silver has meant stores of it in London’s vaults have fallen to the lowest levels in a decade.

Thousands of tons have been flown to New York since Christmas in a race to get ahead of possible US tariffs.

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A scramble for silver has meant stores of it in London’s vaults have fallen to the lowest levels in a decade[/caption]

The Sun can reveal the capital’s silver vaults have seen the biggest outflows in ten years.

Sources at Heathrow say IBI and Brink’s have seen a massive increase in silver shipments.

Carriers, including United Airlines and Delta, are making a killing after hiking cargo rates some 200 per cent for the shipments.

The Sun understands an airline charged Brink’s more than £160,000 to ferry the commodity on a recent flight.

One source said there had been around 50 tons of silver flown out of Heathrow to New York in just the past three days.

They said: “No one in the industry has seen anything like it.”

Ross Norman, of Metals Daily, said the rush has been triggered by US traders wanting to avoid a 20 per cent cost increase if tariffs are imposed.

The London Bullion Market Association said the outflow has left the lowest holdings in vaults and biggest monthly decline since 2016.

PAY’S ON THE RISE BY 5.9%

AVERAGE wage increases have continued to rise at double the inflation rate — while the level of unemployment has remained steady, stats show.

The Office for National Statistics reported average earnings rose by 5.9 per cent between October and December compared to 5.6 per cent in the previous quarter.

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Average wage increases have continued to rise at double the inflation rate[/caption]

Excluding bonuses the average weekly wage is £664.

Meanwhile the unemployment rate has remained broadly flat at 4.4 per cent.

The tight labour market has prompted some economists to raise concerns the Bank of England will not rush to cut interest rates amid concerns that higher wages could fuel inflation.

Governor Andrew Bailey yesterday looked to calm those fears.

He said he was not that concerned by faster pay growth and the Bank was still confident that inflation would fall over the year.

CALL FOR DIVERSITY IN U.S. AXE

THE rush by firms to axe diversity policies after US President Donald Trump’s victory has prompted a British union to call for Westminster intervention.

Tech union Prospect has written to the Women and Equalities Committee to scrutinise how US multinationals in the UK are making changes without consultation.

It is calling on the committee to urge bosses to comply with UK employment law and “expectations of equality”.

Accounting firm Deloitte now has different approaches for US and British staff while Facebook owner Meta axed its diversity scheme entirely.

Rachel Curley from Prospect said: “The rollback of these policies in US-based firms will have a direct impact on UK staff where the legal framework is substantially different.”

IHG’S INN TO SNAP UP RUBY

HOLIDAY INN owner IHG has snapped up a boutique hotel chain for £87million — alongside posting a jump in sales and profits.

IHG, which has 355 hotels in the UK and 5,629 around the world, posted a 7 per cent rise in revenues to £1.83billion while operating profits lifted by 10 per cent to £890million.

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Holiday Inn owner IHG has snapped up a boutique hotel chain for £87million[/caption]

IHG said that overall it was able to charge 3 per cent more for its rooms, but China remains weak with revenues per room falling by almost 5 per cent.

Alongside revealing a £713.4million share buyback, IHG also made its 20th acquisition, buying small hotel chain Ruby, which has 20 hotels across Europe, including three in London.

The Ruby brand sells itself on its “lean luxury” approach.

It has ten more hotels in the pipeline and plans to have more than 120 over the next 10 years.

9K BRITS GO BROKE

THE number of people becoming insolvent jumped by 12 per cent in January compared to the previous year, stats show.

The total was 9,706, with the majority of people entering into debt relief orders.

These give a breathing space on their debts up to £50,000, but still appear on credit files.

Meanwhile, there were 1,971 company insolvencies registered, the numbers from the Insolvency Service showed.

This was 6 per cent up from the previous month.

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GEORGE RUSSELL has “no intention” of burying the hatchet with Max Verstappen following their explosive row last season.

The pair went to war in last year’s finale in Abu Dhabi, with the British 27-year-old claiming Verstappen threatened to put his “f***ing head in the wall” by deliberately crashing into him at the Qatar Grand Prix.

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George Russell revealed he didn’t speak to Max Verstappen over the winter[/caption]

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The situation between the two drivers is set to remain frosty this season[/caption]

Four-time world champ Verstappen was branded a “bully” by Russell — with the Dutchman hitting back by labelling the Brit a “backstabber” and “loser” after he won the race, with his Mercedes rival trailing in fourth.

Russell — speaking at Tuesday night’s  F1 75 event to celebrate the sport’s 75th anniversary at London’s O2 Arena — said he and the Red Bull driver “hadn’t spoken” over the winter.

He added: “I’ve got no intentions to, to be honest.

“That happened last year. I want to focus on myself.

“Things got out of line last year. We are not going to go back to being best mates, that’s for sure. I have no concerns about him or his driving. 

“I made it pretty clear I’m not going to take it.

“But now it’s 2025 and I’m focused on the job and the job is to win.

“So I’m not going to change my approach, fighting him or fighting any other drivers. The goal is the same.”

And Verstappen admitted he will put the issue to one side. He said: “I have no intention to continue any beef in February.”

Meanwhile, the Dutchman laid into the FIA for their new extreme swearing rules for the upcoming campaign, urging them to focus on more important issues.

Fines will range from  £34,000 to £152k, while Championship points can be docked and race bans  handed out for repeat offenders.

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LUSAIL CITY, QATAR – DECEMBER 01: George Russell of Great Britain driving the (63) Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team W15 leads Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (1) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB20 and the rest of the field off the line at the start during the F1 Grand Prix of Qatar at Lusail […][/caption]

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In Singapore last year,  Verstappen was ordered by FIA stewards to complete community work after dropping the F-bomb to describe his car.

The 27-year-old said: “If you look at everyone’s reaction to it, that says enough.

“In the heat of the moment when you get interviewed in your car, sometimes things slip out.

“We grew up playing sports, it happens, you use a swear word.

“We shouldn’t take it so seriously. I’m also not going to tell them how to behave in life.

“You need to use a bit of common sense and, besides that, I prefer we actually focus on other topics — to try to improve safety, try to improve the overall performance of Formula One cars — instead of actually having to focus on all these kind of things.”

Meanwhile, British McLaren driver Lando Norris says his team have “no excuses” if they are not  competing at the front of the grid right from the off this season.

McLaren won their first constructors’ championship since 1998 last year but Norris was  runner-up to  Verstappen, 63 points adrift in the drivers’ standings.

Red Bull had dominated the first five races which ultimately  left Norris with a mountain to climb.

With the countdown to the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on March 16 underway, he said: “After last year  we have no excuses, I guess.

“In the past we’ve had our fair share but honest and true excuses.
“This year we  don’t  have any, we have nothing to hide behind.

“We proved last year we have everything we need and everything  it takes to fight at the top and be  the best.”

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