More than 800 towns and cities across Europe replaced traffic with al fresco dining, horses, parties and markets yesterday, but British participation in the traffic-reduction scheme failed to have a significant impact on road congestion.
The first European Car Day aimed to encourage people throughout the continent to abandon their cars for other forms of transport and open up the streets for outdoor entertainment, clean air and public space.
But only 10 of Britain's 175 local authorities took part in the initiative, among them five of the 33 London boroughs.
The Environmental Transport Association, which organised the day in Britain, said it was disappointed that more towns did not take part.
In addition, the British government is the only EU government not to have signed a charter supporting the day.
In central London, only a handful of roads were closed to traffic. Camden in north London barred cars in one area of Covent Garden and invited restaurants and cafes to spill out on to the pavement. Salsa dancing, theatre, music and haircutting filled a Brixton street which usually carries heavy traffic and a road near Waterloo was transformed into a street market.
Merton, in the south west of the capital, grassed over a road for children to play on, and the borough of Sutton extended a pedestrianised area to accommodate cafes and a speakers' corner.
More than 300 cyclists from six corners of London rode through drizzle to Trafalgar square yesterday morning before performing a lap of honour around Nelson's Column.
Mary Richardson, from Brixton, who has used a bicycle as her main form of transport for two years, said that she has become addicted to cycling.
"My bike's my best friend. I was tired of never getting anywhere on time on public transport. Now, if I say I am going to be somewhere by a certain time, I am."
Meanwhile Bath closed two of its most heavily congested roads. Free rides on vintage buses and organised cycle rides and discounts on public transport were on offer in Swale and Deal in Kent.
Darren Johnson, environmental adviser to the mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, who took part in yesterday's events in the capital, said: "It's very disappointing that the government have not signed up. We've got a government that's ultra-cautious. They won't endorse anything that seems even slightly radical. In London, the GLA can fill that role where the government is failing."
A spokesman for the Department of the Environment said that it supports the aims of the campaign but believes that the effects of car use should be publicised on more than one day a year.
"Our position is that if local authorities want to take part then that is a matter for them," he said.
However, Don Foster, MP for Bath - the first British city to have a car free day, in 1995 - said that he was "hugely disappointed" that the government had failed to endorse the day formally.
"Given the way the government behaved during the fuel crisis, when not once did they mention the environmental benefits of reducing car use, or tell the public how to save fuel, it is no surprise."
