Liverpool Council is doing "everything it can" to alleviate traffic chaos in the city centre after chaotic scenes last weekend.
Police were called in to Liverpool city centre on Saturday to try and tackle the enormous queues and backlogs of traffic created by Christmas shoppers and those heading in to enjoy festive activities.
There were reports of people being stuck in "immense" queues and left waiting in car parks for hours as they tried to get out of the city centre. Video taken by the ECHO showed hundreds of vehicles at a standstill, with queues extending all around the city centre.
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The worst affected areas included The Strand, Scotland Road, Islington, Hunter Street and Brownlow Hill. The high levels of traffic were undoubtedly exacerbated by rail strikes on the Saturday which led to a vastly reduced Merseyrail service..
The situation was so frustrating for some of those trying to battle the traffic that one woman, Ellen, called for a "revolution" after moving "about two car lengths in the space of almost two hours" on Mount Pleasant.
Nathan Greensmith reported being stuck in the same city centre car park for over an hour. He said: "Stuck in the mount pleasant car park for over an hour and probably longer because only one barrier is working and no one is just opening them to let everyone out. The car park is only open until eight, we'll be lucky if we get out by then."
Cai Adams reported being stuck in a "car park queue of enormous proportions," while Jenny Holder said "the queue to get out of this car park is immense. I think we live here now."
Merseyside Police reported that traffic was "exceptionally busy on all routes into the city," with "lots of people trying to get into full car parks."
The city centre is expected to be very busy over the next couple of days as shoppers pick up last minute Christmas gifts and city centre councillor Nick Small said the local authority is working hard to try and avoid the type of gridlock scenes that were experienced last weekend.
He also encouraged people to travel by bus or train into Liverpool wherever possible.
Cllr Small said: "This is a busy time of year as more people than usual are coming into town to shop and go out for meals and drinks. I've raised these issues with officers in the run up to Christmas and I know the council are doing everything they can to help keep traffic moving as smoothly as they can. I'd also appeal to people, where they can, to use public transport to get into Town, especially for short journeys. We've got great buses and trains."
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