Traffic on the motorway is expected to drop by up to a third during England's World Cup semi-final tomorrow night.

Highways England analysis of the country's motorways on each of the team's previous match days shows traffic falling by as much as 33 per cent in the two hours after kick-off compared with the hour before the games started.

The Government-owned company responsible for managing England's motorways and major A roads expects this trend to continue at 7pm on Wednesday as millions of people watch the Three Lions take on Croatia.

It also found that roads were not busier than normal immediately before or after games, suggesting many football fans are choosing not to travel or to travel at completely different times, rather than change their journeys to slightly earlier or later on the same day.

Frank Bird, an emergency planning officer at Highways England, said: "When England played Colombia we noticed traffic levels drop by about a third so we're anticipating similar on Wednesday.

"If you're on the road please drive safely and keep your focus on the journey. And then we look forward to doing it all again on Sunday!"