ON Wednesday we went to the Great Yorkshire Show after a break of many years.

Unfortunately one or two things marred what should have been a wonderful day out.

The first was traffic management, or rather the lack of such. On a normal day that journey should take around 45 minutes. On a day with an event, we would have expected to double that time.

Instead it was more than quadrupled, taking three and a half hours from the Monks Cross roundabout on the A1237 to actually parking the car in the showground.

From Green Hammerton onwards, we were sitting for around 15 minutes then moving some 8-10 cars length and so on. There was no police presence until reaching the first major roundabout and although they obviously did their best, it appeared to be utter chaos.

Traffic management should have been implemented at least ten miles further away from that point.

From 8.20 to 11.50am is totally unacceptable for such a relatively short journey and something more efficient must be done in future. Had we not prepaid our tickets, we would have turned around and had a day out elsewhere.

After 147 years of putting on this show, it seems not unreasonable to expect to be able to get to it without missing half a day stuck in traffic.

Another point which caused delays was the distinct lack of signage. We had a map, but it was difficult to relate the printed page to what was actually there. Signposts would have been useful or even, as on public roads, painted directions on the ground.

We thoroughly enjoyed the things we did manage to see but had to skip though them rather quickly - not advisable in the extreme heat we experienced.

Janet S Kitchen,

Ashley Park Road,

York.

Updated: 10:17 Friday, July 15, 2005