BRIGHT sunshine and soaring temperatures ensured the third and final day of the Royal Lancashire Show was hailed as a '200 per cent' improvement on last year.

Police and council bosses joined show organisers in declaring the event, held near Ribchester, as a huge success.

Thousands travelled to the final day of the show, and with the exception of minor alterations to the car parking arrangements after one patch of land began to churn up, no problems were reported with traffic flow onto the site.

It's a massive turnaround on the disaster that was last year's show. Marred by three-hour waits to get on and off car parks, the show was abandoned on its final day after torrential rain made the site unsafe.

Inspector Bob Ford, who raised eyebrows two months ago when he predicted there would be no traffic problems at this year's event after spending months drawing up new plans, said: "We haven't had any problems at all with congestion on or off the site."

David Morris, chief executive of Ribble Valley Council, which as late as April was warning show organisers that they would prevent it from taking place unless they were sure there wouldn't be a repeat of last year, said: "We've seen a 200 per cent improvement on last year over the past few days.

"It has been a wonderful event, blessed with good weather, and will have done a lot to promote the Ribble Valley to a lot of visitors."

Tom Bowring, this year's president of the Royal Lancashire Agricultural Society, said: "We have had an excellent few days this year, thanks to the weather.

"I didn't attend last year's show so when I was offered the chance to be president this year I said it was important all the lessons from last year had been learnt.

"It would appear they have been."

The hot weather ensured refreshment stalls were among the biggest winners yesterday -- but unfortunately for the Royal Lancashire Show, the ice-cream stands this year came from Yorkshire!