BANK Holiday commuters are hoping for a clear run on the roads and railways, but the weather is less inviting.

The Highways Agency has lifted dozens of roadworks across the county’s motorways and A roads to help motorists looking for a weekend getaway.

Between Friday and Tuesday there will only be one set of roadworks in Oxfordshire.

Junction 9 on the M40 near Bicester will have narrowed lanes and 40mph speed limits to accommodate for a mile of roadworks.

The Highways Agency said “nil to slight delays are expected” because of the works, which cannot be lifted because there are open excavations.

First Great Western trains running between Oxford and London on Friday will have extra carriages to cope with increased demand.

First Great Western, CrossCountry and Chiltern Railways all say they are expecting to run normal services, subject to engineering works, throughout the weekend.

Chiltern Railways will be running a Saturday service on Monday, but with extra carriages.

There are no planned engineering works in the Oxford area.

On Monday, the Oxford Tube will be operating a Sunday service.

Brookes bus timetables, City buses, Airline buses and the X90 bus will all be running on Sunday schedules on Bank Holiday Monday.

There will be no Park and Ride 500 service, while Park and Ride 300 and 400 will be running to special timetables with a reduced service.

The Park and Ride 300 will be running every nine minutes during the day, whereas the 400 will be every 15 minutes.

The weekend weather is looking unsettled, with heavy rain forecast for Thursday and Saturday and showers possible on Sunday and Monday.

The Met Office has issued a weather warning as a band of heavy rain is expected to sweep across parts of the county on Thursday morning.

The yellow warning, indicating the possibility of severe weather, will be in place from 3am until 7pm tomorrow.

Scattered heavy showers, with the risk of thundery downpours, are likely to follow during the afternoon.

Met Office spokeswoman Laura Young said: “It really just touches the borders of Oxfordshire but chances are that it could change.

“We would recommend that people keep an eye out. It’s nothing to worry about too much but we are just making people aware.”

With potential localised flooding in the afternoon, the Met Office has said the public should be aware of the danger of surface flooding.

Although it is uncertain which areas will be most at risk, downpours totalling more than 40mm are likely within some parts of the UK.

Ms Young said: “40mm is quite a lot of rain to fall in a short period of time but it’s more likely that it is going to fall in the South West.”

There is another batch of heavy rain due to fall on Saturday night with it becoming brighter through Sunday and Monday but still a risk of showers.

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