YORK’s Viking Festival reaches a spectacular finale tonight.

The five-day sell-out festival is the largest event of its kind in the UK, attracting over 40,000 visitors from around the world, many from the Scandinavian countries. It culminates with a sound and light battle at the Eye of York in the shadow of Clifford’s Tower. Entertainment starts from 4.45pm, with the battle starting at 5.45pm.

The huge number of visitors to the festival put a big strain on temporary traffic lights at the junction of Water End and Salisbury Terrace, and caused some traffic delays in the city.

Ruth Egan, head of transport at City Of York Council, said: “We have been working closely with the contractors to minimise disruption throughout the work.”

She said the contractors would now be operating the signals manually between 4.30pm and 8pm to ease congestion and give priority to Park ‘n’ Ride buses.