Massive crowds flocking to Yorkshire's only remaining air show combined with traffic heading to the coast brought York roads to a standstill.

Bank Holiday traffic bound for the East Coast grinds to a halt on the A64 outside York

So popular was the 11th Elvington International Air Spectacular that police had to turn off the traffic lights on the Grimston Bar Interchange and direct cars themselves for three hours to ease the gridlock.

The show's joint managing director, Dave Tappin, said tens of thousands of people attended yesterday. "It was a solid mass from the top of the commentary bus," he said.

He was told they had brought York to a standstill, with traffic queueing on the A64 back to the race course.

For a time, drivers heading for Elvington and the East Coast were faced with one of the worst gridlocks ever to hit the roads around the city.

It took drivers an hour to get from the Grimston Bar roundabout to the show.

The event, sponsored by the Evening Press, was in doubt earlier this year because of plans to sell off the airfield, and a question mark remains over its future.

But John Edmonds, a trustee of the Yorkshire Air Museum, who is a member of a consortium that is trying to buy the airfield, said it had been a wonderful day. "We only hope that if the sale goes ahead it will be a sympathetic buyer, so we can keep this kind of thing going."

Mr Tappin added: "We are entirely in the hands of the new owners, whoever they may be."

But his biggest worry was the need for more cash backing for the event, saying they had to write a cheque for £29,000 for jet fuel alone.

David Revett, of AA Roadwatch, said all roads round the air show were busy, but the main jam was between Elvington and York.

The other hotspot was the A64 east of York, which was very busy around lunchtime and started slowing again in the evening as people started leaving the East Coast beaches.

The A1 had been fairly busy but there were no major problems. The A19 and A59 were similar, and it had been "quite quiet" in the centre of York.

"I think anybody who was going away might have gone away for the weekend rather than just the day," added Mr Revett.

With a warm end predicted to the Bank Holiday in England and Wales today, long tailbacks were expected as people made their way home.

HOW LOW CAN YOU GO? The Red Arrows swoop down from the skies above the Elvington International Air Spectacular

In Scarborough yesterday the crowds were enjoying the holiday atmosphere. A staff member at the Dolphin public house in Eastborough said the town was "a bit quiet in the morning" but had been hectic since. "The pub is absolutely packed," she said.

It was a busy weekend for the Humber Coastguard, which helped several groups cut off by the tide.

A coastguard also found a seven-year-old autistic girl who went missing from a campsite at Flamborough yesterday.

Coastguard watch assistant Simon Drayton said the girl was found safe and well near some cliff paths.

Two eight-year-old boys from Nottingham were found safe the previous day in a search at Whitby.

Coastguards also had to assist a number of vessels, but one of the biggest efforts was due to a child's empty dinghy being spotted off Cayton Bay, Scarborough. Two lifeboats and a helicopter from RAF Leconfield were called out, though it turned out the dinghy blew off-shore the previous day.

See Air show report

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