LORRY drivers were furious when they found a Cotswold lane completely blocked by dozens of plane spotters.

Early-bird enthusiasts had started arriving outside the RAF Fairford base at the crack of dawn to see the first of 350 planes fly in from around the world for this weekend's Royal International Air Tattoo.

But a car park provided for the spotters had not opened so they just parked in the lane and on the verges and unpacked their binoculars, telephoto cameras and short wave radios to listen to air traffic control.

Several lorry drivers called police when they found Wash-pool Lane, Kempsford, near Fairford blocked with the spotters' vehicles.

A Gloucestershire police spokeswoman said: "One lorry driver was stuck in business premises on the lane and could not get out and several others were unable to reach their destinations in the same road.

"We had calls from just after 7am until about an hour later when the park and view car park finally opened."

Hundreds of plane spotters descended on Fairford to watch aircraft arriving for the show.

These included a Jordanian Hercules, distinguishable because of the Arabic writing near the nose and the national marking on the wing.

Other aircraft expected to be in demand at the weekend will include the America Stealth Bomber and the B52 bombers, which are taking part in a special fly-pass in honour of bomber crews.

This weekend's show is the first to be held at Fairford for three years. The base has been closed for the last two summers for major refurbishment of the runways to make it a front line NATO operational base capable of taking the world's biggest warplanes.

Eight trillion dollars worth of planes from around the world will be on show at the event which expects 200,000 spectators.