TICKETLESS fans were to blame for the "shambolic" traffic chaos that marred a spectacular aviation event, according to its organisers.

The people behind Throckmorton Airshow have hit backs at critics and blamed fans turning up at the last minute without tickets for the lengthy delays.

They have broken their silence after facing a backlash from people who paid to see the show but could not get there due to massive tailbacks.

Some families spent more than THREE hours travelling the 12 miles to the high-flying event from Worcester.

This was down to an "unexpected and overwhelming number of people arriving and expecting to get in without a ticket", the organisers said.

The presence of the Vulcan XH558 for its final flight in Worcestershire is also thought to have inspired more aviation fans to travel to watch the show.

The gridlock has seen Saturday's airshow – one of the most popular annual events in the county's calendar – labelled "a fiasco", "farcical" and "a shambles" by disgruntled punters.

Air show organiser Samantha Jones said: "This was the eighth event we've organised and until this point we've never had any problems with traffic, even though we've had large crowds before.

"Nothing's changed in the last couple of years and there were no issues going out or in to the event in previous years.

"[The problems this year] were the unexpected and overwhelming number of people arriving and expecting to get in without a ticket.

"This was despite our numerous attempts to inform everybody – by whatever means we could - that it was a ticket-only event.

"We tried to control the numbers and had a plan for 15,000 total.

"When the website crashed, which was out of our hands, we'd sold just over 12,000.

"We think people who were trying to buy tickets when the site crashed turned up on the day expecting to get in.

"If people had bought tickets in advance we would've known the numbers that were coming, but a lot of people left it until the last minute to wait and see if the Sun was shining and then turned up at the gate.

"The event was completely run by volunteers who were trying to make a family day out.

"We tried to do the best we could to make sure everybody had a good day, but the traffic issues were down to unforeseen circumstances."

Ms Jones also mentioned "two or three minor disagreements" on the roads outside the show, and the fact that "a truck was abandoned and blocked one of the roads for some time" as contributing factors to the chaotic traffic.

There have been widespread calls for refunds from angry ticket holders who simply could not get into the showground.

However, Ms Jones said: "At the end of the day it clearly said on the tickets they were non-refundable unless the event didn't go ahead.

"All ticket money is donated to charity."

The ticket cash will go to five good causes – Combat Stress, Cancer Research UK, the Royal Air Forces Association, Fly2Help and the Midlands Air Ambulance.

Criticism was also levelled at the organisers for letting some fans in without tickets, but Ms Jones said the mass influx of ticketless fans had caused a bottleneck at the event entrance.

After talking to the local council, it was decided the only way to deal with this was to let these ticketless fans in – rather than tell them to turn around and add to the already overburdened roads.

"I was on the gate and had to deal with it," Ms Jones said.

"We spoke to the local authority and mentioned that there were quite a few people that had decided just to turn up on the day despite the fact it was a ticket-only show.

"The authority advised us to let people [who didn't have tickets] into the show as long as they gave a donation bigger than the ticket price, rather than turning them away."