QUEUING cars at a town centre park have forced Ipswich Buses to change some routes.Queues of cars waiting to park in the Buttermarket shopping centre, in Dog's Head Street, have been blocking the buses and taxis' only road, leaving many bus users stranded on the bus waiting for the cars to move.

QUEUING cars at a town centre park have forced Ipswich Buses to change some routes.

Queues of cars waiting to park in the Buttermarket shopping centre, in Dog's Head Street, have been blocking the buses and taxis' only road, leaving many bus users stranded on the bus waiting for the cars to move.

Bus user, John Murphy, 50, of Hawthorn Drive, said: “I can appreciate the busy time of year but I have seen it happen so many times now and it's so frustrating for people when they're stuck on a bus and people are just blocking the road in their cars waiting to get in the car park.”

The problem has got so bad it has forced Ipswich Buses to permanently rethink some of their bus routes, some of which will now completely avoid the area.

Malcolm Robson, managing director of Ipswich Buses, said: “In order to keep buses going to schedule we do have to occasionally divert them if that area gets blocked because of the Buttermarket car park getting busy.”

Mr Robson said service 13, taking people from the Chantry estate into the town centre, has been diverted permanently through Civic Drive since the beginning of December.

He said: “It's specifically to avoid the problems with the Buttermarket car park, we decided to test run it to see if we had any objections from bus users but it was fine so it will be a permanent diversion.

“It's been a problem we don't seem to be able to solve and it's been going on for years; the location of the car park itself is wrong and we've just got to live with it now.”

Colin Roberts, manager of the Buttermarket shopping centre, said: “We've been working with Ipswich Buses, police and traffic wardens for a long time now, as the car park is incredibly popular.

“It's probably the most popular car park in the town and it's been a problem for at least the past ten years.”

Have you been stuck in queues near to the car park? What do you think?

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