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Tell tourists to walk in single file, says Oxford councillor

Central Oxford has been overwhelmed by tourists, the councillor claimed - Universal Images Group Editorial
Central Oxford has been overwhelmed by tourists, the councillor claimed - Universal Images Group Editorial

Oxford's summer tourists make life a nuisance for locals, a local councillor has said - but she has an imaginative solution. 

Visitors should be told to walk in single file to stop them blocking the pavements, according to former Lord Mayor Mary Clarkson.

Her idea is a bid to ease congestion caused by coachloads of sightseers who are dropped off in the centre of the small city, which she says is creating a hazardous situation for other pedestrians.

Speaking out on Twitter, she said that summer tourists turn the city into "hell" and make paths dangerous for cyclists and walkers. 

"It doesn't ruin the tourist experience if you walk single file or just two abreast," she said, adding that she was "complaining about the management of huge numbers of tourist groups, not tourists per se".

"Oxford is pretty much impossible between June- October. Cycle lanes all full of illegally parked tourist coaches & pavements blocked," she said.

"At least we try to be considerate visitors when we go to busy places & avoid behaviour which we hate in Oxford's tourists".

 A tourist visits All Souls College on September 20, 2016 - Credit: Carl Court/Getty Images Europe 
A tourist visits All Souls College on September 20, 2016 Credit: Carl Court/Getty Images Europe

Cllr Clarkson added that one of the major problems were language schools who use the name of the prestigious university city to attract students, who then block pavements when queuing for buses.

"If the language schools just told their charges to walk single file it would transform life for us locals," she said. 

Last week she told the MailOnline: "Better coach parking arrangements, advising groups to walk in single file or no more than two abreast and ensuring that tour guides don't block entrances to places like the Covered Market when talking to groups would make life so much better for other people. 

"These aren't costly solutions and they don't cause anyone any serious inconvenience, but could make things infinitely better."

A former Lord Mayor of the city, Cllr Clarkson is a Labour councillor for the Marston ward. 

She originally spoke out about tourists as she compared the city to Edinburgh, saying that despite thousands descending on the city for its summer fringe festival many Oxford residents escape there for a "brief respite".

Seven million people visit Oxford every year, generating £780 million of income.

Cllr Clarkson is the latest Oxford resident to bemoan the impact of the thousands of tourists who descend upon the city each year. 

A woman photographs part of Magdalen College  - Credit: Carl Court/Getty Images Europe 
A woman photographs part of Magdalen College Credit: Carl Court/Getty Images Europe

Last month a senior priest at The University Church of St Mary the Virgin, in Oxford, criticised tourists who only enter the medieval church, which is England's most-visited, in order to take photographs. 

Associate priest the Rev Charlotte Bannister-Parker wrote in a newsletter: "I am not usually a grumpy person, but I have been overwhelmed by the numbers of tourists coming through the church and the fact that so many of them seem unaware that this is a sacred space.

"Not only is the whole experience of visiting St Mary's so often seen through a camera lens, but also some visitors seem completely unaware of the difference between this space as 'the House of God' and, say, that of the Sheldonian."

A wave of anti-tourist sentiment has swept across Europe with residents of cities including Venice and Barcelona, as well as the Hebridean Isle of Skye, speaking out against disruptive visitors. 

Those travelling to Skye were told by police to arrange accommodation before coming to the island, as some had been forced to sleep in their cars due to a shortage of hotel rooms.