Visitors to Great Western Hospital hit gridlock on Wednesday afternoon.

Motorists faced long queues at about 3.15pm as they tried to get off the A4259 Marlborough Road and into GWH.

It is believed parking was a struggle for visitors and caused the traffic disruption as the middle of the afternoon is a peak period for visits.

David Hounslea, the hospital’s director of estates and facilities management, said: “GWH is a very busy hospital. It was built over 12 years ago and demand has increased greatly since, meaning we have more patients and visitors coming to the hospital every day.

“Over the last few years a number of changes have been made to help improve parking, including expanding the staff car parks to free up space in the visitor car parks, increasing the number of disabled bays and introducing a pay on exit system.

“Despite these improvements, there are times when the hospital is particularly busy and parking is a frustration.

“During these busy times we always have extra parking attendants on hand to help direct people.

“We are of course always looking for ways to improve parking but unfortunately options are limited with the space we have available.

“We can only advise patients and visitors to always leave plenty of time to get to appointments, consider public transport if able to and if they are running late due to trafficnot to worry as they will still be seen.”

In coming weeks visitors to the GWH may also encounter further disruption as the council has announced that, as well as the roadworks currently going on at the hospital, there will be two months of roadworks, on the A4259 Marlborough Road, between the Coate roundabout and Commonhead roundabout.

Charlotte Bignell, who commented on the Adver’s Facebook account, said: “For some reason our borough has decided to do various roadworks all over Swindon, at the same time, so no one can get anywhere without being stuck in piles of traffic.

“Not only that, they have decided to shut the bridge off next to Greenbridge over Christmas. Whose smart idea was that?

“Is there ever a time in Swindon when roadworks are not a problem? It never ends.”