Easter weekend travel: One dead in serious road smash on busiest day on Britain’s roads

The accident near Micheldever, Hampshire, also led to a woman in the same car being taken to hospital and forced authorities to close a stretch of the busy A303.

The deceased man has yet to be identified.

Hundreds of thousands of families are expected to use the route to reach seaside resorts and 'Poldark' towns and villages in Cornwall and Devon.

The smash forced the closure of the A303 eastbound carriageway between the A34 Bullington junction and the M3 junction 8 near Andover in Hampshire. 

The road is expected to reopen later today.

As drivers search for alternative routes the westbound carriageway leading to the West Country quickly became rammed with traffic backing up several miles.

Further getaway problems were also causing travel chaos across the country, as another crash closed the busy A35 at its junction with the A337 in Christchurch.

Roads in the south-east of England and the West Country are expected to be among the busiest across the country over the Easter break, as Britons flock to the seaside for a beach break.

The AA previously predicted that today is likely to be the busiest day on the road network.

The A303 westbound through Hampshire, Wiltshire and Somerset and the M25 around Heathrow Airport are expected to have the heaviest traffic, according to Trafficmaster.

To help ease congestion, Highway England announced that more than 550 miles of roadworks will be lifted this weekend.

Rail commuters are also expected to be struck by delays due to a large number of rail engineering works planned over the next few days.

There will be no Southeastern services to or from the London stations of Charing Cross, Waterloo East or Cannon Street.

Meanwhile, Gatwick Airport in Surrey is expecting 11 per cent more passengers than last Easter - leading to a total of 480,000 people.

Nearly 400,000 will jet off from from Heathrow Airport over the Easter break.

A police spokesman said of the A303 crash this morning: "Police are investigating a fatal road traffic incident on the A303 near Micheldever.

"Hampshire Constabulary received a call shortly after 7.30am this morning when a car overturned off the road into a ditch.

"Two people were travelling in the car: a male driver and a female passenger.

"The man has died, and the female passenger has been taken to hospital with injuries that are not believed to be life-threatening.

"Police are in the process of tracing and contacting the man's next-of-kin. Therefore, we're not in a position to formally identify the deceased driver at this time.

"The A303 eastbound remains closed between the junctions with the A34 and the M3."