Europe's biggest student-led parade has been cancelled for the first time in nearly 130 years.

The Torcher Parade had been expected to go ahead on March 19 but problems with traffic management forced the Aberdeen University Students’ Association (Ausa) to cancel the event.

Holly Bruce, president of charities and communities at Ausa, has raised concerns about the event's future.

She said: "It’s really quite upsetting, I've been involved in the parade for the last three years and the last five years have seen a slow decline in participation.

"From my perspective what needs to happen is a reinvention of the parade and the council need to get on board."

Ausa said Aberdeen City Council repeatedly failed to confirm whether it would be able to provide staff to manage traffic after the association submitted plans for the parade in October last year.

The council confirmed it would not be able to help in early February and Ausa were unable to find an outside company to staff the event.

A spokesman for the local authority said: "AUSA was notified in November by our roads services that the proposed date of March 19th would fall within our winter maintenance programme.

“As a result we could not guarantee the availability of staff to support the planned traffic management required to deliver a safe parade.

“We strongly suggested that Ausa consider a later date, including March 26, so we could provide traffic management support.

“All our attempts to support and facilitate the event were rebuffed by the student body. There are no winners here, the only losers are the people of Aberdeen who turn out year after year to enjoy this historic event.”

Ausa plans to hold an alternative event at the University of Aberdeen on Saturday.