Worried traders plan to send out questionnaires to thousands of villagers to ask if they are avoiding their town because of traffic problems.

Abingdon shopkeepers fear they may be losing thousands of pounds worth of trade because the town is difficult to reach at certain times of the day and there is no free parking.

Some members of the Abingdon and District Chamber of Commerce suspect the town's traffic problems are keeping customers away, but they have no proof.

Peter Tothill, who runs Abiparts in St John's Road, and is a member of the chamber, said: "We believe the traffic does affect trade from the villages but it is easy to say that.

"We would like to find out for sure but we have a fairly small committee, we have all got our own businesses to run and the amount of time is limited."

He said the real reason villagers might shun Abingdon town centre was likely to be down to more than just traffic.

"We don't think there is one single factor. It is a combination of factors, including public transport availability and car parking," he said.

Mr Tothill believes a lack of free short-term car parking makes it hard to compete with larger out-of-town stores.

But Vale of White Horse district councillor Michael Jenkins said low short-term charges did not deter shoppers.

The Sutton Courtenay councillor believes a questionnaire is a step in the right direction to finding out what shoppers want and said access was the main problem.

"The potential of Abingdon is enormous. It's an attractive place. But, in competing with out-of-town places, it has major problems."

Story date: Monday 01 February

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.