POLICE had to step in and direct vehicles leaving Bicester’s new car park after a traffic lights malfunction.

Officers were called by a motorist who said they had been stuck in a traffic jam on the ramp of the car park in Manorsfield Road for 30 minutes as there was an issue with the lights not changing to let people out.

The new 526-space car park opened as part of the £70m Bicester town centre re-development on Wednesday last week and is the only car park in the town to offer two hours’ free parking.

A spokesman for Sainsbury’s said that, despite Saturday’s malfunction, the car park had catered for thousands of vehicles since it opened last Wednesday.

The spokesman said: “Overall, the access into the car park has worked exceptionally given the high volume of vehicles.

“A traffic lights issue on Saturday did lead to some unnecessary queuing, so for the coming weekend, engineers will be present at peak times to monitor the lights should this issue re-occur and if necessary the traffic lights can be re-programmed.”