Bus passengers are being warned of disruption to their journeys during a children's parade on Saturday.

Last year the queue of buses was one of the more bizarre scenes of traffic mayhem as Brighton city centre became gridlocked while the children marched from the North Laine to the seafront.

About 36 buses were held up in the chaos which had a knock-on effect several hours after the parade had finished.

But this year Brighton and Hove Bus Company has revised its timetable in a bid to avoid the same problems.

Between 10.30am and 1pm, all the buses from the north and east of the city will terminate at the Old Steine and buses from the west and north west will turn round at either Brighton train station or in Western Road by using Upper North Street and Regent Hill.

Bus stops in Churchill Square and North Street will be withdrawn during these diversions with alternatives available further west in Western Road or the Old Steine.

Roadworks which have been taking place in North Street for several months means there are already diversions in place for buses which involve driving along the seafront and West Street. To ease the congestion the buses will not run along the seafront or West Street during the parade.

Roger French, Brighton and Hove Bus Company managing director, said: "Last year our buses got famously held up in North Street for more than an hour as the parade crossed from the North Laine to the Lanes.

"So this year we have rescheduled every service to avoid North Street completely for a couple of hours, as we do during the Pride parade in August.

"This enables us to keep buses running normally to all the outlying areas and neighbouring towns throughout the parade. We hope to return all services to normal operation by 1pm."

The children's parade is part of the big opening ceremony for the Brighton Festival where thousands of children dressed in costumes start off from Sydney Street at 10.30am, making their way to Madeira Drive.

Pupils, volunteers and teachers from Dorothy Stringer School in Loder Road, Brighton, have spent hours preparing costumes, props and routines for the festival which is partly sponsored by Southern Water.

The parade, which is produced by Same Sky, has taken the theme of inventors and inventions and children from 73 schools will be winding their way through the city to the hypnotic beat of a samba band watched by thousands of people.

Full timetables for all the amended bus routes are available on the Brighton and Hove Bus Company website at www.buses.co.uk or by phoning 01273 886200.