One woman said it has put her off shopping in Bristol
A long line of cars waiting to get out of Cabot Circus car park(Image: Submitted)
Drivers have recounted their nightmare afternoon stuck inside Cabot Circus car park for nearly four hours after a fault with a traffic light outside.
Arron Howe said he returned to his car in the car park at around 6pm today (Nov 15) and was stuck not moving for around an hour an a half. He told BristolLive he was one of the lucky ones.
“I think they were clearing it one level at a time and being on level eight, it was the short straw,” he said. “A woman with a baby in front of me said they’d been waiting for nearly four hours.”
“It was just the lack of information that was odd. No one came to explain what was happening.”
BristolLive understands traffic lights around Cabot Circus were down this afternoon, which caused long delays on the roads and prevented drivers from leaving the car park.
Cars waiting to leave Cabot Circus, with some sat for as many as three hours(Image: Arron Howe)
Arron added that his partner encountered delays when shopping last weekend, though not quite to the same extent. He believes the traffic issues will only grow worse in the lead up to Christmas.
“It was really busy in the town centre,” he added. Avon & Somerset Police closed Redcliffe Hill due to a protest this afternoon, which may caused some drivers to divert, resulting in even more traffic on the roads.
“We were quite lucky,” Arron said. “We got back just before 6pm and we were there about an hour and a half.”
Several drivers reported that Cabot Circus security staff made attempted to control traffic on lower floors, but those on the upper storeys say they were left with little to no information about what was happening.
Another trapped driver, who initially tried to leave the car park at 2.40pm, said: “We were on the 8th floor and nobody has told us anything. It looks like security are on lower floors trying to control traffic but we’ve heard they only have one barrier open to leave the car park since.”
She later shared an update, saying: “We have finally got to the barriers. In the three hours and 30 minutes we have been stuck here we only started moving in the last 30 minutes with no communication from anyone in the car park who works here.
“All the barriers are open but it looks like it’s caused from the traffic in the city centre. We aren’t from Bristol and have come to go shopping but definitely won’t be coming again!!”
