A PARK and ride scheme would be the best way to avoid future traffic chaos at the Royal International Air Tattoo, according to Fairford's civic leaders.

The plan would see free buses ferrying spectators from car parks around the site of the base.

The town council is to invite a RIAT representative to a meeting to discuss the idea.

The two-day air show in July, which attracted around 200,000 people to the NATO base, caused gridlock on the roads around Fairford and there were long tailbacks on routes from the M4 in Swin-don and M40 in Oxfordshire.

But district councillor Freda Lang told a town council meeting she had been satisfied before the event that plans to limit traffic problems through off-site parking would work.

"From the plans I saw I couldn't actually tell that there was going to be a problem, but there definitely was," she said.

"None of us said this was not going to work."

Mayor Coun Quentin Tail-ford, said: "The fact is that it didn't work.

"We need to ask if we can be involved in the early stages of planning to help the organisers solve the problems."

Coun Tailford said he had experienced a park and ride scheme at Wimbledon this year and commented that: "There were no hold-ups at all."

Police met RIAT organisers earlier this month to discuss the problems.