TRANSPORT chiefs are looking at whether a park and ride car park near Bicester Village could resolve traffic problems for the designer outlet centre.

Police said over the Christmas and New Year break the weight of traffic heading to the Pingle Drive centre was at times “overwhelming”.

With the Village opening on Boxing Day ahead of stores in London, it had an unprecedented number of visitors.

Traffic queued along the southbound M40 at junction nine and the A41 was gridlocked.

A raft of measures put in place over the past 12 months, including more parking and signs, failed to cut jams.

Now Oxfordshire County Council, the police, Bicester Town Council and Bicester Village are looking at a park and ride on the Kingsmere development, off Oxford and Middleton Stoney roads.

Village spokesman Miranda Markham said: “While this has undoubtedly been our busiest ever Boxing Day period, we have taken every practical measure possible to reduce disruption and inconvenience to the local community.”

Measures included providing more parking and complimentary shuttle buses, and diverting traffic away from the town centre whenever possible.

She added: “In the meantime we are continuing to investigate possible longer term solutions with Oxfordshire County Council.”

County council spokesman Owen Morton said problems were compounded because trains did not run on Boxing Day.

He said: “The county council is undertaking technical work to assess the need for a park and ride at South West Bicester and will make a decision as to whether or not to take this project forward later in the year.”

Bicester Village paid £1,226.70 a day for two police traffic officers to work nine-hour shifts. The officers worked their days off and were not redirected from police resources.

Police spokesman Craig Evry said: “It was extremely busy at the shopping complex at the start of the post-Christmas selling period when there was congestion on the A41 and the M40.

“The road traffic officers, who were on motorbikes, were there to assist with the traffic management plan that Bicester Village had in place, which included a park-and-ride scheme and overflow parking.

“Despite this plan being in place the number of people visiting the shopping complex was at times overwhelming.”

Police were also called to two incidents during the sales, a row over a parking space on December 28 and minor disorder outside the Ralph Lauren shop where doors were slightly damaged as customers pushed their way in at noon on Boxing Day.