CHAOS reigned in Heysham on Sunday as untold numbers of people flooded the village for the car boot sale.

Police had to be deployed to sort out the traffic nightmare as people abandoned their cars in the bus station and on double yellow lines.

Organisers decided to cancel the popular car boot sale for the following day, Bank Holiday Monday, as the crowds just kept on growing.

The sale is organised in the village by the Neighbourhood Council to pay for the Britain in Bloom effort, car rally, Christmas fair, Christmas tree and bonfire night celebrations as well as smaller projects. It is usually held once a fortnight.

Chairman of the council, Mr Eric Briggs, responded to calls to abandon the car boot sale: "We will rethink whether we hold the sale on a bank holiday weekend again but at other times there hasn't been a problem. I was away but apparently people were coming round to complain. We'll consider what the police and other people say at our next meeting.

"But isn't it nice that we can bring a lot of people into the village? There's been 20 shops closed down on Marlborough Road and others in the village. I don't know how much of difference these car boot sales make but we're trying and it brings thousands of pounds some of which goes on little things like cutting back trees on Main Street which have become dangerous. No-one makes any money at all from this apart from the people selling from their cars. Absolutely all the money goes for the good of the village. We have to presume that people will obey the law when they come here."

But at least resident of the small village, who did not wish to be named, thought the sales should stop. She explained: "You just could not move here on Sunday. It ruined our day when we tried to get home and couldn't find place to park. We didn't park at the bus station or anywhere like that. We just had to wait for a very long time."

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