TOURIST shop owner Brian Ashley is claiming parking signs put up by the National Trust are driving visitors away from Avebury.

Avebury, as a survey published in the Gazette last week revealed, tops the league table of popular tourist attractions in Wiltshire.

Mr Ashley owns the Henge Shop in the High Street in Avebury which stays open to late evening in the summer and until dusk in the winter selling souvenirs and books to tourists.

He has noticed that ever since the National Trust started charging for parking in the village's main South Car Park and put up signs stating the car park would be locked at 6.15pm his evening trade has fallen off alarmingly.

Mr Ashley, who is also a Kennet district councillor for the Pewsey Vale seat, has owned and run the Henge Shop for 20 years.

He said Avebury attracted visitors all the year round, including from dusk to dawn. Many visitors, he said, preferred to see the ancient stone circles at daybreak or at sunset. The evening trade, he said, had fallen significantly since the introduction of parking charges and signs in the village's main car park off the Beckhampton road.

Genuine tourists suffered already, said Mr Ashley, from the complete ban on roadside parking within miles of the village during the Summer Solstice.

While the solstice was only for two or three days, the recently introduced parking charges and signs were keeping visitors away all year round, Mr Ashley claimed.

He said: "Since the National Trust started charging and closing the car park early evening we have hardly any visitors after 5.30pm because they fear they will get locked in."

He said members of the travelling community did not mind being shut in when the gates closed because it gave them somewhere to stay for the night.

Mr Ashley said: "Why on earth do they have to close the car park and put up signs saying it will be closed?

"On a warm summer evening tourists are still looking around the village at 9pm or 9.30pm. The High Street car park says it's for residents only so if they see signs saying they can't use either of the car parks they just drive straight through."

Mr Ashley said he was not raising the issue selfishly but for the tourists themselves and because there were other businesses that suffered.

He said: "The survey showed it is the leading attraction in Wiltshire so why does the National Trust have to make it difficult for visitors to park?

"The best time to see the stones is in the evening when the lower sun is creating shadows across them.

"It's Ok to close the car park at six o-clock in the winter but why not leave it open all day in the summer?"

The National Trust's Avebury property manger Richard Henderson said there were big signs saying the gates would shut at 6.15pm but if anyone was shut inside the car park they could open the unlocked gates to leave.

Mr Henderson said: "These signs were erected at the request of the Avebury Parish Council when parking was first introduced in the south car park."

He said there were signs in the small car park in the High Street opposite the post office stating that while it was for residents' use only during the day it was for public use from 5pm. Updated and clearer signs were to be put up in the High Street car park, said Mr Henderson.