There has once again been traffic chaos across Northern Ireland as festive shoppers headed out on the day before Christmas Eve to grab some last-minute bargains.
The past weekend is famously nicknamed the busiest shopping days of the year ahead of Christmas Day on Wednesday, however shoppers seeking to travel to Belfast city centre found themselves in similar scenes to Sunday.
There was significant delays around the Boucher Road area as shoppers visited the Boucher Retail Shopping complex, while the Andersonstown junction of the Finaghy Road North also saw congestion.
The Beersbridge Road, alongside primary city link routes such as Donegal Square, Donegal Road were also filled with long queues of cars.
The Falls Road, Howard Street, the Upper Newtownards Road with the junction at Knock Road were for a time at a standstill, with similar scenes in the Kennedy Way off slip area and the Saintfield Road and Upper Knockbreda Road.
Several retail centres and shops have extended their opening hours ahead of Christmas Eve tomorrow meaning the traffic congestion is likely set to continue until later this evening.
Separately, the PSNI advised road users that the Tobermore Road in Maghera is currently closed following a road traffic collision while delays are also expected in the Nutts Corner area of Crumlin following a one vehicle collision.
The long delays in the city centre follows weeks of traffic chaos in the city with several infrastructure improvement works underway including on the Sydenham Bypass.
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Infrastructure Minister John O’Dowd announced last week that class A and C taxis will be able to use a number of bus lanes during the festive period to reduce traffic congestion – an announcement which received a mixed reception.
Stephen Anton, communications manager at Fonacab and coordinator of the Licensed Taxi Operators Association, told BBC Radio Ulster that the move was “too little and too late”.
“We did say that allowing taxis into bus lanes would help. Having seen the announcement, we don’t think that’s going to help as much as we would’ve liked,” he said.
While Clare Guinness, Belfast Chamber CEO, welcomed the move and said: “These temporary measures introduced by the minister are to be welcomed as they will help address the traffic congestion in the run-up to Christmas, but it is vital that the other solutions under consideration are progressed as soon as possible.”