SEVERE traffic congestion was reported around Oxford city centre this afternoon.
Oxfordshire County Council said the 1,000-space Westgate car park was completely full, while Oxford Bus Company warned of major delays and even service cancellations due to the traffic.
Tweeting at about 1.30pm, the bus provider said: "Delays on Abingdon Road have now reached 40 minutes and Botley Road 30 minutes. This is having a severe impact on our services operating along those routes. Please expect cancellations as well as delays.
See our live traffic feed here
WESTGATE CAR PARK FULL - For #OxfordCity use #ParkandRide or alternative parking. It is currently taking an additional 35 minutes on top of usual journey times to get into the city by car via #Botley road or #Abingdon road #Avoid #OxonTravel pic.twitter.com/aNnhIneT0r
— Oxfordshire County (@OxfordshireCC) October 26, 2019
Traffic on Botley Road and Abingdon Road showing no signs of easing. Congestion is also affecting Frideswide Square/Rail Station and St Giles Banbury Road.
— Oxford Bus Company (@OxfordBusCo) October 26, 2019
Services going via Oxford might experience some delays due to traffic congestion on Abingdon Road.
— Thames Travel (@thames_travel) October 26, 2019
The delays were understood to be simply due to volume of traffic rather than a specific incident.
Traffic shown on Google Maps at 2pm
Roadworks on Botley Road, paired with more people using their cars rather than cycling in the bad weather, made congestion worse.
Frideswide Square was among the worst-affected areas, with the mini roundabouts seen at gridlock as of about 1.45pm.
The bus company was still reporting severe delays to some of its services at 3pm - for live travel updates, click here.
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