Stonehenge winter solstice: Parking row mars event

The sun - partly obscured by cloud - rose just after 08:10 GMT

Thousands of people have celebrated the winter solstice sunrise at Stonehenge.

They arrived in the early hours but had to wait until after 07:15 GMT for access to the stones. Some were turned away because the car parks were full.

Senior Druid, King Arthur Pendragon said problems with parking had "totally ruined it" for some people.

English Heritage said there were two car parks and a park and ride so there were "plenty of ways" to get there.

The winter solstice marks the point when the North Pole is tilted 23.5 degrees away from the sun

King Arthur said because byways had recently been closed off, it left people "with nowhere to park" and unable to reach the stones in time for the sunrise.

"Let's face it, if you're going to the winter solstice celebration, what you're celebrating is the sunrise for the new year," he said.

"[It's] the renewal of the year, and you can't celebrate the sunrise when it's already risen can you?"

About 5,000 people gathered at Stonehenge to witness the sunrise on the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere

Wiltshire Council said temporary traffic orders had been put in for the last 10 years for the solstice celebrations to ensure it was "able to remove people from the byways should we need to".