Anger over car park gridlock at Telford school cross country championships
Furious parents were left gridlocked for up to two hours after watching their children compete in a cross country championship in Telford.
The event at Telford Rugby Club saw schools from across the county take part in various competitions throughout the evening.
Some 1,200 school children, from Year 3 upwards, took part during yesterday's event.
But some parents missed the races because of traffic travelling to the rugby club, while others were forced to abandon their cars when traffic came to a standstill after the event.
The police confirmed they were called in to help alleviate the situation.
Lisa Bailey, who went to watch her son Daniel, from Tibberton Primary School, compete, said: "I parked in the Wonderland car park and it was chaos on the way down as it goes into one lane.
"The only steward in sight was at the entrance of the rugby club, stopping people go in."
Mrs Bailey said the races started at 4.30pm and once her son had finished running they decided to leave.
"We then sat in the car on the car park and didn't move for 45 minutes," she said.
"There were rumours of us being stuck for two hours and I was told the police had been called because there were two coaches trying to leave the site and another trying to get in.
"They had blocked the road and we could not move.
"We eventually decided to go and have something to eat and left the car on the car park and walked into town.
"One mum I walked with had three children with her and caught a taxi home.
"I returned to the car about 8pm and it was clear.
"There were about five cars on the car park and various others scattered along the lane.
"One chap had to walk back to get his car as his wife had left it earlier.
"I can't believe there was no traffic control at such a big event."
Telford & Wrekin SSP, which works in partnership with schools and community providers across Telford & Wrekin, said close to 1,200 runners had taken part in eight races during the evening.
Phil Wright tweeted: "Need to complain to @TelfordWrekin it's always the same if there's any kind of event on as only one way in and one way out.
"There never is, it's always stewards even at the International Centre so it just gets gridlocked every time."
Jo Davies tweeted that most parents had been sat in the car park for two hours, while Lisa Morris-Jones tweeted some parents had even missed the races because they were stuck in traffic before the races for 90 minutes.
