City hit by Sunday traffic misery

From the archive, first published Monday 26th Sep 2005.

TRAFFIC in Worcester slowed to a crawl yesterday as a combination of events brought thousands of cars on to roads through and around the city.

Drivers fumed in the sort of tailbacks more typical of a weekday morning rush-hour than a Sunday in late September.

The annual Malvern Autumn Show, which was expected to have attracted a record-breaking 60,000 people over the weekend, was one of the main causes of extra traffic in the city.

The two-day event at the Three Counties Showground, combined with the car boot sale on the Ketch field, St Peter's, and cricket at New Road on Sunday, created long queues of traffic along London Road and the Western Bypass. A member of staff at Tesco Express in London Road said the garage had been busier than normal, with a stream of traffic along the major route into the city.

She said deliveries had subsequently been arriving late at the company's St Peter's Drive store.

"It's busier than normal; more like a Friday afternoon," she said.

A spokeswoman at the Three Counties Showground said she had noticed a record number of visitors to the show on Saturday. Sunday had been less busy, but was still hugely popular.

But a spokesman at the police's communications centre at Hindlip said there had been no reports of traffic problems in the city.

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