Shoppers at Lincoln Christmas Market have been left "traumatised" after an unsatisfactory experience meant they were unable to see stalls.
The event is attended by thousands of visitors every year with this year being one of the most popular to date.
Yet the festive feeling wasn't experienced by everyone, with some people standing in long queues all night. .
Spanning days from Thursday 1 December to Sunday 4 December, Saturday is typically the busiest night of the event.
However, this year it seems many people had the same idea, which resulted in "horrendous" queues and waiting times at the popular market, reports Lincolnshire Live.
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lincoln-christmasmarket.co.uk)Several people went to the official Facebook page to air their grievances.
One person commented: "Normally go on a Friday but went today this year and it was extremely busy, couldn't even get to stalls which was very disappointing.
"Unfortunately we gave up and decided to leave as it was horrendously busy."
Another added: "We spent just over 2 hours in total from getting out the car at the park and ride to getting back to the car!!!
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James Turner)"An hour getting through the market. Couldn't even see the stalls, so didn't even know what was there.
"And queued another 45 mins at least for the bus back! Went last year and it was lovely, this year will definitely be the last, unfortunately."
Others blamed the issue on a lack of organisation.
One person said: "Absolutely diabolical organisation.
"Took us over an hour to get from the entrance to near the exit. Security not helpful in the slightest, shouting aggressively at people to keep moving but we have nowhere to move."
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lincoln-christmasmarket.co.uk)In response to the comments, Kate Ellis, Event Commander at Lincoln Christmas Market, said: "Yesterday (Saturday 3 December) was one of the busiest days in the 40 year history of Lincoln Christmas Market.
"We’d like to thank everyone who attended yesterday and apologise to those who were inconvenienced by the crowd control measures we needed to implement for a few hours on Saturday afternoon.
"We appreciate the patience shown by people while we worked to ensure the safety of all during these very busy periods.
"These measures, unfortunately, had a knock-on effect which created queues for people returning to the park and ride.
"We are expecting fewer visitors today and would ask anyone who is intending to come along and use the park and ride to book their place in advance using the Stagecoach app."
