Mum in 'survival mode' after three hours in car park

A mum has described going into "survival mode" after being "stranded" in the multi-storey car park of a shopping centre as traffic gridlock took hold of a city.

Emily Strange was stuck in the Westgate car park in Oxford for about three hours on Sunday alongside her partner and their two children, the youngest of which is 10 months old.

Shoppers and drivers complained of gridlock across the city centre during the weekend following the introduction of a new traffic filter trial and the Oxford Half Marathon.

Oxfordshire County Council said its trial was still in the early days and that it was monitoring the scheme's impact carefully.

Alongside the filters, which began on 28 September, Sunday also saw the city host the annual half marathon - contributing to extra traffic.

But Strange said she had previously visited Oxford from her home in Abingdon on race days and that she had "never experienced traffic" like that on Sunday.

The mum of two, the eldest of which is six, said the family had parked at the Westgate's multi storey site, and headed back to their car at around 15:30 BST to make it home for "baby bedtime".

At this point, she described seeing "cars backed up along every channel of the car park" and water being handed out by Westgate staff, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Strange said she was "worried" about the impact of the situation on her young children, and that it felt like "suddenly going into a little bit of survival mode".

After three hours in the car park, the family managed to exit - with Strange placing the fault for the delays on the new traffic filters.

"It's just going to kill the city and put everybody off," she said.

Strange added that she had now cancelled upcoming plans at the Westgate, and that had no plans to return to Oxford any time soon.

A spokesperson for Westgate Oxford said it was "increasingly clear" that the traffic filters were having an impact on businesses.

"During Sunday's severe congestion... we did all we could to support guests by providing water while they waited to exit," the spokesperson said.

"We apologise to those who experienced delays, some of which were significant."

But Oxfordshire County Council placed blame for the congestion on traffic from the half marathon.

"The city centre and the Westgate car park were exceptionally busy, and road closures were in place until mid-afternoon," it said.

The authority stressed it was "still early days in the traffic filter trial", and that it was "monitoring" its impacts "carefully".