Temporary park and ride services which were due to operate before Christmas have been cancelled.

Bus operators told Swindon Borough Council it would not be able to staff the extra services, which were due to operate from three sites around the town to cater for shoppers on Saturdays.

This is the kind of congestion people in Swindon can expect when they travel into the town centre for their Christmas shopping.

Temporary park and ride sites which have served the town on Saturdays in December in the past have been cancelled this year leaving people little option but to take their cars into the town centre.

The decision is likely to create more queues such as those experienced in Islington Street and Fleming Way during January's New Year sales, in which people were stranded in their cars for more than an hour.

Swindon Borough Council set up temporary park and ride sites at Blagrove, Pipers Way and Greenbridge in the run up to Christmas last year.

They stopped operating on December 18 and when congestion brought chaos to the town centre in the New Year, the council said it was caused because drivers were not able to the use park and ride facilities.

Now it admits it will not be able to operate any temporary park and ride facilities over the Christmas and New Year period.

The decision has been made because bus operators are experiencing problems finding staff to man their vehicles.

Swindon Borough Council's public transport officer Philip Martlew admits the situation is "very unfortunate". But he says the council has become a victim of circumstances.

Michael Barnes, the councillor in charge of transport, said: "While it is a pity that the Saturday-only services can not run this year, I fully appreciate the desire of the bus operators not to take on more work than they can cope with."

Phil Stockley, a spokesman for Stagecoach, said that the company was working hard to attract potential drivers for training.

The company needs 80 drivers to offer a full service. It currently only has 61 drivers and nine have left in the past couple of weeks.

The permanent Copse Park and Ride will continue to operate and will open late into the evening on the five Thursdays before Christmas. It will operate until 9.15pm to coincide with late-night shopping.