A WARNING has been issued to people wanting to use a leisure centre this weekend - as a large swimming gala is expected to cause disruption.

Winchester Sport and Leisure Park will be hosting the swimming gala on March 24 until March 26.

Due to the event, all public swimming will be cancelled, while lessons will also be impacted.

On Friday, March 24, all lessons will be cancelled at the main pool, while lessons from 5.30pm will be cancelled in the learner pool.

Lessons at the hydro pool will continue on Saturday, March 25. They will take place at 9am (stage 5), 9.30am (stage 6), 10am (stage 5), 10.30am (stage 7) and 11am (stage 4). All other lessons will be cancelled.

In a post on the leisure centre’s Facebook page, a representative said: “Please note that the car park will be busier than usual so we encourage all customers to factor this in when planning the journey.

"Park & Ride at St Catherines (500+ spaces) can be used along with the car park next to Barfield (250 spaces) as alternative car parks.

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“We apologise for any issues caused.”

This event comes after a Swim England gala in November caused chaos at the park, with people claiming that they were unaware that the gala was taking place and the car park quickly filling up.

Users complained that no contingency plan had been put in place to allow for the added influx of visitors. They also bemoaned communication between Everyone Active and city council traffic wardens after some received tickets for parking in the wrong place.

Alison Lewis, area contract manager at Everyone Active, told the Chronicle at the time: “We apologise for any inconvenience the Swim England gala caused our members over the weekend.

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“Everyone Active colleagues did not instruct members where to park in order to access the centre, however, we would always encourage visitors to use the dedicated parking bays. During busy periods, there is also the park and ride car parks opposite.

“The Winchester Sport & Leisure Park’s car park is monitored by Winchester City Council’s enforcement team and as with all monitored car parks, customers park at their own risk if they do not park within allocated spaces.”

Winchester Sport & Leisure Park is run by Everyone Active on behalf of the city council.