THE annual pilgrimage of shoppers into Swindon may be in full flow, but a company which was set up to promote the town centre insists congestion is not problem.

Swindon Initiative says it is great news that the town is so busy this year in the run-up to Christmas.

But although traffic seemed to be grinding to a halt in November, Swindon appears to have escaped the expected Christmas log-jam so far.

Last month, motorists in the town centre found they could not get in or out of the car parks, with the area around Fleming Way packed with traffic.

The problem has been exacerbated by the cancellation of three park and ride schemes which were set up around Swindon at Christmas last year.

Bus companies said they did not have enough staff to man the extra buses needed for a park and ride this year, which means that only the permanent site at The Copse, north of Swindon, will be running.

Swindon Initiative chief executive Richard Sharpe said that the town's traffic system had coped much better than expected: "Car parking has not proved to be as great a problem as some were predicting," he said.

"As soon as we knew there was a potential for a parking problem, we set up arrangements for good planning and co-operation between retailers, the borough council and many other agencies that have had a part to play."

Mr Sharpe does accept that there has been a problem with traffic, but says it is not overwhelming the town as it has in the past.

"Queues are occurring, especially at weekends, but visitors to the town are finding that a queue at one car park does not mean that everywhere is full," he said.

"Drivers are being patient and using their common sense to move to other car parks and this is really helping."

The manager of the Brunel Centre, Nick Beaumont Jones, agreed with Mr Sharpe that the problems so far this year are not as bad as some had anticipated.

He said: "I am seeing queues build up at some of our most popular car parking locations, especially on Saturdays, but the Brunel Centre car parks, although very busy, have been coping well with the increased traffic and have never been to full capacity."