Police have traffic plans down to a V

Drivers were today warned of delays on major routes including the M6 and M54 as the first revellers were arriving for this weekend's V Festival.

The gates of Weston Park were opening at 11am today, 24 hours earlier than usual in a bid to stagger arrivals and prevent chaos on surrounding roads.

Last year, motorists were stuck in jams of up to seven hours as tens of thousands of music fans converged on the site.

An entire village will be sealed off and several roads will be shut this weekend as the area braces itself for more than 35,000 cars arriving for the two-day festival on Saturday and Sunday.

Stewards will stop festival-goers travelling through Tong and along Beighton Lane, Old Chester Road and Mill Lane to avoid the village roads becoming clogged with queuing cars.

Police have been preparing for the event for months and have strict contingency plans in place to cope with the levels of traffic.

Most festival-goers are expected to arrive tomorrow. Drivers travelling north along the M6 were today advised to join the M54, leave at junction 3 signposted Tong and follow signs along the A41 to the west gate car park. People travelling south should leave the M6 at junction 12 at Cannock and follow signs along the A5 to the east gate.

Chief Insp Vera Bloor, one of the Staffordshire Police commanders for the event, said: "With up to 35,000 cars expected, some congestion is inevitable.

"Traffic will be monitored, and contingency plans are in place to redirect vehicles if necessary.

"We would advise people who are not attending the festival to seek alternative routes, particularly to consider using the motorways instead of the A5."

Highways chiefs have also announced that drivers may be allowed to use the hard shoulder of the M6 and M54 as a "last resort" to avoid a repeat of last year's jams.

Hard shoulder running could be introduced on the southbound carriageway of the M6 at junction 12 and the westbound carriageway of the M54 from junctions 2 at Wolverhampton to 3 from today if traffic starts building up. All of the major breakdown services will be sending out extra patrols to cope with any problems, and a tow-away zone will be set up.

Any cars left in the designated zone will be removed at the owner's expense, as will any vehicles left in the park after midday on Monday.

Tickets for the festival sold out in a record-breaking 90 minutes this year .

Workers moved onto the site earlier this week to start setting the stage before the grounds are transformed with a sea of 90,000 revellers and tents.

Amy Winehouse leads a stellar line-up that includes Lenny Kravitz, Muse, The Verve, Stereophonics, Girls Aloud, The Feeling and Kaiser Chiefs.

Duffy, Alanis Morissette, Will Young, Kings of Leon and The Charlatans will also be performing.

The last campers will leave the park on Monday morning.

More than 150 volunteer first-aiders will be at Weston Park this year.

The team of St John Ambulance volunteers will be on hand.

Maureen Upton, commander for St John Ambulance Staffordshire, said: "The majority of incidents that we treat are for blisters, sunburn, cuts and bruises.

"In the 10 years that we having being treating V Festival-goers our volunteers have clocked up more than 21,500 hours of experience, so that we are ready to deal with any emergency."