Scotland's biggest music festival is to admit campers a day earlier in a bid to avoid last year's traffic chaos which prompted calls to scrap the three-day event.

Camp parties on July 10, the new first day of T in the Park, will also be restricted to midnight to avoid disruption.

Heavy rain forced the closure of waterlogged car parks on the first day of last year's T in the Park, causing gridlock on roads around the site at Balado, with queues of up to 12 miles long.

Tayside Police as a result promised a review of the event's traffic management plan.

Yesterday, Perth and Kinross Council's licensing committee sanctioned a request by the DF Concerts, the promoters, to allow this year's event to be allowed to open its doors on the Thursday before the show begins on the main stages the following day.

But following concerns from local councillors, night entertainment provided on the campsite for the early arrivers will be curtailed at midnight, rather than 2am.

There will also be more buses to and from the site at Balado, Kinross-shire.

Bernadette Malone, chief executive of Perth and Kinross Council, said in a report: "It was considered that by allowing 20,000 people to gain entry to the campsite on the Thursday, prior to the event starting, this would help cut down the traffic on the Friday."

Representing DF Concerts, Geoff Ellis, the festival's director, said that the move followed a string of meetings with councillors and local community representatives.

"We want to move forward, learning from last year's experiences, and have devised various plans to prevent it happening again," Mr Ellis said.

He added that organisers hoped to gain information on vehicle numbers by selling carpark tickets ahead of the festival, on July 11 to 13.

Bus and campsite tickets will be available to buy at a "one-stop shop" website, with music fans able to choose from a range of packages according to travel distances.

Bands will play from 6pm until midnight on July 11 and up to 11pm on the next two nights.