A MAJOR coach operator is reporting a surge in Christmas bookings between London and Glasgow as passengers avoid rail engineering works.

National Express, the UK's largest coach company, said advanced bookings for coach travel between Glasgow and London on December 27 and 28 are up almost 50 per cent year-on-year after passengers were warned to avoid travelling on the West Coast Main Line.

The coach company has added thousands of extra seats to its services to enable more people to travel over the festive weekend, and will be running a full timetable of services to ensure passengers who still want to travel can do so.

It has also doubled the number of services it is running on Christmas Day with coaches serving 30 towns and cities across the UK.

This has resulted in record bookings for Christmas Day this year - a 40 per cent year-on-year increase - while bookings have increased eight per cent year-on-year overall between December 17 and January 4.

Network Rail and Virgin Trains, the main operator on the London to Glasgow rail line, has urged passengers to make alternative travel arrangements from Christmas Day until December 29. Major upgrades are being carried out between London Euston and Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire which will close the line, resulting in longer journeys, detours and replacement bus services being used.