OXFORD Mail readers have backed a councillor’s claims that the city is enduring its own ‘tourist hell’ over the summer months.

Councillor Mary Clarkson claimed more had to be done to prevent Oxford’s most loved tourist hotspots becoming too clogged up.

On the Mail’s Facebook page, Ems Louise agreed.She said: “It’s absolute chaos. My mum is in a wheelchair and we can’t move anywhere due to hundreds of tourists stood in groups of about 30.”

Meanwhile, Katherine Richards said she has used different tactics in years gone by.

She wrote: “I used to walk through them with the pushchair. They moved or got their ankles clipped.”

Reader Jordan Hastie said he avoids the city ‘like the plague’ because of the overcrowding.

“I know it’s a tourist city but there needs to be a limit,” he said.

Mrs Clarkson had originally pointed out areas where the crush had become particularly said: She said: “On Saturday and Sundays St Giles, which is a dangerous road for cyclists anyway, cycle lanes have been totally blocked by coaches.

“A lot of their drivers were unable to see cyclists by them. They have been leading tourists into the traffic.”

In a move that could radically alter traffic in the city centre, the Department for Transport will decide whether buses and taxis will be banned from Queen Street. Any ban will only be implemented once the Westgate Centre opens on October 24.

But on the Mail's website, Billy Biker said urgent action is required in other areas: “The tourists we need for the economy. The traffic congestion and lungfuls of exhaust fumes we could do without.

“Tourists will sustain us, traffic fumes will kill us.”

And commenter Fleetey wrote: “This year is much worse in comparison to other years. One side of St Giles is taken up by coaches picking up and dropping people off and it’s not uncommon to see coaches parking illegally elsewhere.”

But a tour operator, Alasdair de Voil, wrote: “Perhaps if the city planned another place for coaches to drop off, that may help but I think St Giles is already the most logical place.”

Other traffic changes in the city could see taxis on part of Cornmarket – but opponents said they worry about pedestrian safety.