Police shut down Wombourne car boot sale

Police were forced to shut down a problem car boot sale in South Staffordshire after hundreds of cars blocked a main road.

Bargain-hunters clogged the roads eager to get to the first mid-week sale of the season. Drivers queued for more than a mile to get into Col's Car Boot off the B4176 Bridgnorth Road in Wombourne, grinding the village to a halt.

Officers cited "serious highways obstr-uctions" including congestion and mot-orists abandoning their cars at the side of the road. Staffordshire Police spokeswom-an Sarah Davidson said officers had been called at 9.30am, around three hours after the morning sale kicked off. She added: "Vehicles had been parked on grass verges and left in dangerous positions." The pol-ice helicopter was called in to take pictures of the chaos, gathering evidence to submit a report to South Staffordshire Council.

Colin Turley, who runs Col's Car Boot has previously admitted to exploiting a planning loophole which means he can avoid restrictions limiting him to just 14 days a year by regularly moving fields. The 54-year-old, today declined to comment.