Football fans rushing home in time for the World Cup clashes starting tomorrow could be the cause of huge congestion problems on roads around York and North Yorkshire.

The firm of traffic information specialists, ITIS Ltd., is predicting that the volume of vehicles is set to surge as drivers rush to the television in time for kick-off.

And the 90 minutes until full time are forecast to leave empty roads as hundreds of thousands of people sit glued to the action on the pitch.

Predictably, England's games are guaranteed to see the heaviest rise in the numbers of road users eager to get home.

The company is telling its York clients to be on their guard against hold-ups.

The company works with transport and distribution companies, including Sainsbury's and other large retail chains. It informs them of traffic problems and the best ways to avoid them.

Managing director Clive Shayler said: "We will be providing our customers with instant traffic information throughout the UK, focusing on the heavy traffic problems that historically the World Cup creates as motorists rush home to watch the games on television."

But road experts, the AA, said World Cup problems were not expected to cause huge delays. And York firms are not afraid that football-mad drivers could slow their journeys.

Yorkshire AA spokesman, Denise Thorley, said the full extent of the problems would not be fully known until after the start of the tournament.

But, she added, the AA was not expecting a lot of disruption.

She said: "I expect there will be extra traffic, but it's going to be very spread out. Some people will being leaving work at lunchtime for afternoon matches, while others will be leaving only 20 minutes before work and some just won't go into work.

"I think we'll see extra traffic in the afternoon, but we're not expecting such an increase that will cause big problems. The usual rush-hour will probably be quieter than usual as well."

A spokesman for Rhodes Haulage Ltd, based at Stockton-on-the-Forest, said: "We aren't anticipating the World Cup to cause any problems and we are not planning for any delays."

Paul Kirkwood, spokesman for Nestl, said the company had the same policy.

"From a business point of view it's exactly the same as usual," he said.

"We aren't expecting any delays because of extra congestion and we aren't doing anything different because of it."

I want to wrap myself in tartan

by Maxine Gordon

Football certainly does funny things to folk.

As a Scot living in England, I rarely feel patriotic.

Yet put eleven strapping lads in a dark-blue shirt and throw a ball at them and my heart - or should that be braveheart - starts to swell with unashamed national pride.

I want to wrap myself in tartan, swig cheap scotch from a paper-wrapped bottle, stuff my face with shortbread, haggis, mince and tatties and sail to the Isle of Skye with Ally 'Super Al' McCoist.

I become so unbearably Scottish that my weary English colleagues, friends and boyfriend (only joking about Ally, Dear) invariably ask: 'If Scotland's that great, what are you doing here?'

So I'll be boarding the train for Edinburgh tomorrow to watch Scotland's first World Cup 1998 game with my ain folk, as we say.

For only the Scots truly understand the masochistic agony of watching their national side perform on the world stage.

The missed penalties, the sky-high shots on goal, the shattered dreams ... they are only consoled by a kind Scot lamenting: 'We did our best, ye ken'.

And everything is all right again. For Scots always expect to lose. Anything better is a bonus.

And whatever the result, we will live in hope that England will be thrashed by Tunisia on Monday, and we can all smile again.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.