Scarborough Fair Collection said on their Facebook page on Wednesday: “Entry suspended for a short period. Due to reaching our safe capacity inside the museum, there will be no more entries to the museum for a period of time while those currently in the museum enjoy their visit. We are estimating it will be 2pm before we allow any more entries.

"Apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused.”

Museum staff added that the situation was unprecedented and that in future the management could introduce a booking system to manage visitor numbers.

The museum is located at the Flower of May holiday park in Scarborough. It was originally the private collection of local entrepreneur Graham Atkinson, who occasionally allowed park guests to view it from the 1980s.

In 2008 a purpose-built venue opened. It houses showman's engines, fairground rides and organs, classic cars, motorbikes and buses, model railways, and theatre organs that are played during regular tea dances. The collection is one of the largest and most impressive in Europe.

Scarborough Fair Collection: Vintage transport museum in Yorkshire closes for the first time ever because it has too many visitors