Accidents cause long delays at North Somerset Show

People have faced lengthy delays trying to get into the North Somerset Show following two earlier accidents.

The event, held near Wraxall, is taking place for the first time since 2019.

Organisers said the heavy traffic was partly caused by accidents and that it did everything it could to make sure cars got into the parking areas.

Andrew, from Fishponds in Bristol, said he gave up after it took him three hours to get to the showground.

"It is absolutely chaos there," he said.

"Whichever way you do it, it is absolutely solid."

Traffic reports suggested it was taking other festival-goers almost two hours to get from the A38 to the showground.

The agricultural show includes livestock judging, tractor pulling and show-jumping.

Complaining about the delays, people took to Twitter, with one person writing that it had been a "waste of a bank holiday" and another accusing the organisers of getting the traffic management "completely wrong".

The accidents took place in Winford and Wraxall Hill, the latter involving an ambulance that had rolled onto its side at about 08:25 BST, closing the A37.

One crew member was taken to hospital. No patients were travelling in the ambulance.

Organisers apologised for the delays and said they had taken "additional steps" to make sure that cars kept moving.

Tim Ledbury, from the show, added: "It was a perfect storm - people had come out in good large numbers, looking forward to a good day out.

"We have a traffic management plan which we put in place with the council and that hasn't changed, but there were other incidents around the showground and further afield on the road network, which caused problems for us.

"It's not nice for people being in the traffic, but it shows how popular the show is."

He said that they will be looking at what has happened and how they can rectify any issues they have had.

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