EXTRA parking will be available at the New Forest Show today to try to prevent a repeat of yesterday's traffic chaos.

The "unprecedented" popularity of the show resulted in so many vehicles converging on New Park, Brockenhurst, that organisers were almost forced to shut the gates.

Instead they took the highly unusual step of urging people to stay away and visit the attraction today instead.

The fields surrounding the arenas at New Park are capable of holding as many as 10,000 cars but the endless stream of vehicles surging through the entrance resulted in the site reaching bursting point before lunch.

By that time long tailbacks had built up on the A337 and other roads in the Brockenhurst area.

One woman said it took her two-and-a half hours to get from Totton to New Park.

But the "stay away" warning, issued just before noon, is likely to result in a larger than normal crowd today.

Extra parking will be available and the number of ticket sellers on the gates will also be increased to cope with additional demand.

Show secretary Denis Dooley said: "A large number of cars arrived at the same time yesterday so we advised people who hadn't already left home to come today instead.

"We didn't want people to sit in a queue for two hours and then not get a parking space."

Mr Dooley stressed that the gates were never closed and added: "We did what we did to prevent that from happening. It was sensible to do that rather than have to turn people away."

By early afternoon traffic queues had started to ease as a result of people either turning around or heeding the plea to stay away.

Mr Dooley said the huge crowd was due to a combination of "perfect" show weather, the presence of the Household Cavalry and the show's growing popularity.

It is thought to have been the first time in 15 years that officials had to urge would-be spectators to stay at home.

The show ground stayed open for an extra 90 minutes yesterday to cater for people who missed the warning and arrived late.

The Household Cavalry staged a "Meet the People" session as well as two full performances of its famous musical ride.

Visitors to the show included world darts champion Scott Mitchell, from Bransgore, and Countryfile presenter Tom Heap, who both judged one of the classes in the Best of British Beef section.