HOLIDAYMAKERS attempting to make a break for the seaside or to the New Forest are facing motoring misery on a Hampshire road.

The AA have released figures after studying the two worst traffic bottlenecks in the country and revealed the worst times to get snarled up in holiday traffic for drivers heading from Hampshire to the South West.

The motoring organisation have said that the bottleneck at M27/A31 New Forest interchange is one of the worst in the UK, along with the A303 at Stonehenge.

To help with the congestion, the AA have analysed traffic patterns from 2015, just before and during the holiday getaway season to help ease some families' motoring misery.

The AA found that traffic heading into the New Forest or beyond to Bournemouth and Dorset last summer ran into a 40 per cent increase in congestion on Fridays and Saturdays once the holiday season was in full swing.

The best day to travel through the bottleneck was Sunday, with Monday to Thursday also seeing increased traffic congestion, although still lower than Friday and Saturday.

The threat of traffic delays at that M27/A31 bottleneck was consistent through the week and greater midweek than at the Stonehenge pinch point.

However, there was a vastly greater chance, perhaps even twice as great, of running into snarled-up holiday traffic going past the ancient monument on a Friday than even the worst days on the New Forest/Bournemouth route.

The potential for congestion around the Stonehenge pinch point jumped eight times above normal on a Friday during the summer holiday season, compared to only a 10 per cent increase on a Saturday.

Mondays and Thursdays also saw steep increases in congestion, the latter perhaps due to travellers trying to beat the Friday exodus.

On those days, the chance of running into a jam was up to three times worse than on a Saturday or Sunday.

Edmund King, the AA’s president, said: "Next week, there are two very clear messages: the early traveller catches the easier ride to holiday heaven, and families who time their summer getaway to the New Forest, south Dorset and the West Country to start and end on a Sunday, stand a considerably better chance of a smooth and relaxing journey to their holiday destination."