FESTIVE drivers in Southampton face some of the longest waits for parking spaces, according to a survey.

The city has come out fourth worst for Christmas queues with a quarter of those surveyed having had to wait an hour or more for a space.

Live Traffic

If you're heading out to do your Christmas shopping, check our live traffic updates before you leave.

The research, carried out by AXA car insurance, found that it is parking and not the dilemma of what presents to buy that is the biggest bugbear for Christmas shoppers, with a third of people having waited more than 30 minutes to park during the festive period.

Wrexham topped the list with the longest waits while the shortest queues were found in Chelmsford in Essex.

The poll of 2,000 adults included 50 in Southampton and of those 70 per cent said a lack of parking was a stress factor when Christmas shopping. Despite the queues, of those polled 37 per cent said they enjoyed Christmas shopping in the city, better than the national average of 34 per cent.