ORGANISERS of the Great Yorkshire Show are celebrating after recording their highest single day attendance.

More than 50,000 people are believed to have flocked to the Great Yorkshire Showground in Harrogate yesterday, the highest number on record.

Records were broken in the car parks too, with 21,600 parked, the highest ever at the show.

"We think that people stayed at home on Tuesday because of the weather, then came along yesterday when it was glorious," said honorary show Director Christopher Hall.

"We are obviously very pleased with the number of visitors and I am confident that by the end of the show today we will have exceeded last year's figure which will be the highest gate since 1979."

Chief executive Nigel Pulling, said: "Clearly the show is extremely popular. I have been stopped many times by strangers to say what a wonderful show this is".

Insp Nigel Morgan who was in charge of traffic control for the show, admitted the roads had been particularly bad between 11am and 2pm yesterday.

"We just didn't expect the sheer volume of traffic in such a short space of time, but it was always under control," he said.

Updated: 10:48 Thursday, July 10, 2003