Traffic delays blight an otherwise successful Balmoral Show

It’s an issue which has blighted the show since it moved to the Maze site.

There were reported improvements last year but the traffic chaos seems to have returned with Thursday in particularly seeing long tailbacks.

The delays were caused by a large number of people leaving the site at the same time, according to representatives from the show.

A spokesperson for the Balmoral Show said that the delays were not due to any particular issue and extra wardens were deployed to the site to deal with the issue.

She added that huge numbers had visited the show on Thursday and “had a fantastic day”.

However, the father of teenager who visited the show with a group of her friends said that she was stuck on the shuttle bus for hours and missed her connecting bus home.

“She was with a group of friends and the traffic was so bad getting out of the site, they missed their connecting bus to Banbridge.

“The next bus would have meant a long wait late and a member of staff at Lisburn bus station told the group they would have to go to Sprucefield, which is what the ended up doing.

Other motorists, many of whom had young children with them, said they were fed up and were desperate to get home at the end of a long day.

One woman said that getting out of the car park was an “absolute nightmare” and “chaos”.

She added that over two hours after starting the car they were “no more than maybe ten car lengths from where we started off”.