Visitors to Lyme Regis are being urged to "park sensibly and legally" in the town over the Easter holidays following the delay to the park and ride service. 

As previously reported, a waterlogged site has delayed the opening of First Bus' park and ride bus service, running between Holmbush and Honeyfields car parks, with one stop at Lyme Regis square.

The service should have been up and running for the forthcoming bank holiday weekend when the season officially starts and many visitors are expected.

Instead, drivers will be heading into the town to negotiate the narrow streets to find a space to park.

In a bid to try and avoid chaos, Lyme Regis Town Council has issued a warning to visitors.

The council confirmed the ground conditions at the park and ride site off the A3052 Charmouth Road are too wet to allow the service to open as planned this weekend.

Deputy town clerk Mark Green said: “The situation is unfortunate, but we cannot risk damaging the site and rendering it unusable for most of the summer for the sake of an Easter opening.

“The risk of vehicles getting stuck within the site has also been taken into account."

The service is now due to launch for the May Bank Holiday weekend instead from May 4 to 6 and to open again for Whitsun week from Saturday May 25 to Sunday, June 2.

The landowner of the waterlogged site, opposite Strawberry Field, is currently considering a introducing ground reinforcing "matting" into the site to help reduce the risk of closure in future.

Mr Green added: “We have been in close contact with Lyme Regis Business Group and gave them prior notice there was a chance the park and ride might not be able to operate. The group has been very understanding and appreciates the reasons for the delay.

“We ask anyone visiting Lyme Regis over the Easter break to park sensibly and legally in the town and where possible, use the designated car parks.”

The park and ride service will still be running daily on the following dates:

Daily between May 4 and May 6

Daily between May 25 and June 2

Daily between 24 July and 2 September

It will be running only on Saturdays and Sundays between June 8 and July 21.

There will be frequent intervals between the services which start from around 10am and finishing around 6.20pm.

A full timetable is available on the First Bus website: https://tinyurl.com/3vnvswej