A SENIOR druid has accused English Heritage of creating a "pay to pray policy" after unveiling plans to charge for parking at the solstice celebrations.

King Arthur Pendragon then walked out of a "Roundtable" discussion after bosses at Stonehenge said they planned to ban alcohol.

The two changes are part of plans to reduce visitor numbers during both the winter and summer solstice. Numbers to the summer celebration hit a record 40,000 in 2014 while 7,000 revellers were at the winter event in December.

English Heritage say the changes have come "in order to reduce risk to those attending and to the monument itself".

However King Arthur said the changes "came out of the blue" and accused Stonehenge's owners of "sanitising" the celebrations.

"The ban on alcohol may sound like it makes sense but lets face it alcohol is legal in this country," he said.

"It is not for them to tell me how much alcohol to we can use. There is also a problem with drugs and it will only encourage more people to use them."

King Arthur said he would fight the changes "tooth and nail" going as far as the high court if needed.

"It is getting ridiculous," he added. "Would you pay to park outside a church?"

English Heritage say that by introducing a parking charge they it will to encourage car sharing and use of public transport.

Kate Davies, Stonehenge’s General Manager, said: “Over the past few years, we have had lots of feedback from those attending the solstice celebrations, from families with young children to those for whom the stones holds a special spiritual significance.

“We hope that by prohibiting alcohol, it will help everyone to have a better experience of solstice. We have seen more and more people forego the car for public transport and we would like to see this trend continue. The solstice celebrations will still be free to attend but we hope that by introducing a parking charge, more people will choose to travel by bus.”