Tens of thousands of people heading to the Manchester Christmas markets, concerts and a Premier League football game over the weekend have been warned about possible travel chaos on the roads.
Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) has advised people to use public transport or park and ride as the city centre would be “very busy”.
DJ Pete Tong is due to play at the AO Arena and Jamiroquai at the Co-op Live with both concerts starting at 19:00 GMT on Saturday – on the same day Manchester City play Sunderland at the Etihad Stadium at 15:00 GMT.
TfGM warned it might have to call in the police to manage the traffic as 1.2m people travelled into the city centre over a recent weekend.
Travel bosses said there was travel chaos on 22 November in the city centre which caused “gridlock” and frustrated drivers “blaring” their horns.
TfGM said Saturday, between 15:00 and 20:00 GMT, would be the busiest time and it warned people to plan ahead of any journey into the city.
It said congestion would be heaviest around Shudehill, Deansgate, Quay Street and Blackfriars.
TfGM’s network director said the area around Shudehill was a “hotspot” and Greater Manchester Police (GMP) were on standby for any problems.
He added: “We have looked at all the traffic flow signals and we are working quite closely with GMP to deploy assets where we need to manage traffic flow at peak times, particularly for the Christmas markets at the weekend.
“We have Manchester council and GMP in our control room to manage that.”