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Stonehenge 'land trains' remain unused

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The land trains are awaiting "design improvements"

Five "land trains" used to transport visitors between a car park and the Stonehenge monument in Wiltshire are still out of use.

The carriages were taken for "servicing" in March but Valley News found them seemingly "abandoned" at a depot in Sutton Mandeville.

English Heritage said the vehicles were with their contractors as there was no storage space at Stonehenge.

Buses are being used to take visitors the one-and-a-half miles to the stones.

David Parker, who edits the Valley News, said a reporter and photographer on another story discovered the vehicles on a business park "right in the middle of nowhere".

"There in a yard next door were all these land trains parked up. They must have been specially made - the estimate is ^1.2m to provide the shuttle service," he added.

"The land trains have been serviced and are offsite while we take the opportunity to look at design improvements," an English Heritage spokesman said. "Buses are being used in the interim to ensure there is no disruption to the visitor experience."

A ^27m visitor centre designed to "restore the dignity" of the monument opened in December 2013. This saw the A344 closed next to the stones, an idea originally suggested in 1927. Visitors now park at the centre and take the bus to get to the heritage site.