Liam Payne's parents can't wait for One Direction's hiatus.

The 22-year-old singer and his bandmates - Niall Horan, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson - are taking a break next year after a hectic five years in the spotlight and Liam's parents Karen and Geoff can't wait to spend more time with him.

Geoff explained: ''Nothing can really prepare you for those times when he's not around. In the first year of 1D we used to measure the time we saw him in days, then it went down to hours the bigger they got.

''In the last year it's been minutes, and each one of those is incredibly precious. We've seen more of him outside the country than we have in England. For Liam even getting time to himself has been difficult at times.''

Karen admitted the family struggled to adjust to Liam's job taking him away for months at a time, telling the Express & Star: ''[Liam's fame] happened much too quickly for me. There was 'X Factor' and then everything just seemed to explode.

''It was too much to take in, partly because I never believed it would go as mad as it did.''

And while they are excited about getting to spend some quality time with Liam, Geoff admitted that he can't see his son sitting idle for long.

He said: ''I would hope he'll take a breather once 1D is done, but knowing Liam he'll want to get back into it after a few months.''