The UK has seen the hottest day of the year so far, the Met Office confirmed. The village of Frittenden, in Kent, hit 30.3C on Saturday and the forecasting body said temperatures are still rising.

Before now, Friday had seen the year's warmest temperatures when highs of 28.4C were measured in Heathrow, Cambridge and Cranwell in Lincolnshire. This comes amid what is expected to be an exceptionally hot May bank holiday weekend.

The likely highs for Saturday would be higher than the temperatures forecast in Athens in Greece, Split in Croatia and even Victoria in the Seychelles. Peaks of 31C are expected on Sunday. The current May temperature record of 32.8C was logged in Camden Square, north London, in 1922, and in Horsham in West Sussex, Tunbridge Wells in Kent, and Regent’s Park in central London in 1944.

According to the Met Office, records could be broken for the the hottest May day in the UK and England, currently 32.8C; the hottest May day in Wales, currently 30.6C; as well as the UK and England’s hottest bank holiday, which sits for now at 33.3C.

UV levels will also be high across much of the UK over the bank holiday weekend, with a UV index of seven expected in Cardiff and London on Saturday, as well as in Manchester on Sunday – meaning anyone enjoying the outdoors is advised to apply sun cream.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) issued amber heat health alerts on Friday morning for the East Midlands, West Midlands, the east of England, London and the South East. These will remain in place until 5pm on Wednesday and replace less severe yellow alerts which were previously issued. Yellow alerts have been issued for the north-east and north-west of England, Yorkshire and Humber, and the South West.

Holidaymakers faced hours-long waits on Friday at the Port of Dover and travellers on Saturday came up against similar disruption.

In a bid to ease congestion, the French authorities suspended extra EU border checks under its new entry/exit system (EES), the port announced.