Traffic alert for holiday weekend

ROADS out of Paris will be very busy today as the getaway begins for the three-day Pentecost weekend.

With Monday a public holiday in France, many people are taking a long weekend break and traffic monitor Bison Futé has issued a red alert for roads out of the Ile-de-France today.

The rest of France is classified "orange" today and tomorrow - and again on Monday in the opposite direction.

Bison Futé is advising drivers to avoid leaving big cities between 15.00 and 20.00 this afternoon (14.00-22.00 for Paris).

Tomorrow will also be busy between 9.00 and 14.00. Roads heading back to the Ile-de-France region will have heavy traffic on Monday afternoon.

It is estimated that only 20% of people will work Pentecost Monday - otherwise known as "solidarity day" as businesses donate a day's pay to charity.

Since 2008 companies have been able to decide whether to work, or take the day off and donate a day’s holiday pay, or to carry out their own journée de solidarité on another bank holiday.