The organiser of a car boot sale which regularly attracted more than 100 traders to Trowbridge is disappointed he has been forced to cancel it.

Stephen Auty ran the sale every Sunday morning for four weeks in the covered car park by Asda in The Shires shopping centre, but has had to stop as numbers have grown.

He said: “It was a trial to see if there was demand for it, to try and drive footfall to The Shires on a Sunday, which has the lowest footfall of the whole week by far.

“I am disappointed because it was bringing people in from outside the area; they were coming in from far and wide, and then spending time in Trowbridge afterwards, whether they were buying or selling.

“The tills were ringing in The Shires, which was the whole point of doing it.”

He is now looking for an alternative location for the market, which proved popular in the short time it ran.

“At the moment I am drawing a blank,” he said.

“People seem to think that car boot sales are going to bring out the great unwashed, and people selling stolen goods, but that’s just not the case.

“We had people clearing out their grandmother’s house to pay for the funeral, or people who have been made redundant trying to make ends meet by selling a few things. Some amazing stories have come out of it which I had no idea about.

“It had a lot going for it, and I am disappointed, but I have got to respect the wishes of The Shires, and try and work with them to make it work.”

Sarah-Louise Moore, The Shires manager, said: “The car boot sale was for a trial period and that has now come to an end.

“The event has outgrown its venue and the organiser is in the process of looking for an alternative.

“It was very successful and we recognised that there could be operational difficulties so for it to continue a new site would have to be found.”