FEWER parking tickets in York went to the national adjudicator than almost anywhere else in the country last year, according to a new report.

An annual review by the National Parking Adjudication Service found that only 0.03 per cent of penalty charge notices (PCNs) issued by City of York Council went to the national appeal body. Only Torbay had a lower appeal rate.

York's transport boss Ann Reid today welcomed the figures, which she said showed the city's traffic wardens were fair, and adhered to regulations.

Coun Reid, the council's executive member for city strategy, said: "I think that it does show that York's parking attendants do issue tickets in accordance with our parking regulations, and that also, when people appeal to the council in the first instance, they feel that they have been dealt with fairly, whether or not we grant the appeal."

The report shows that during 2005, City of York Council wardens issued 27,941 PCNs, of which only eight were considered by the NPAS - a rate of 0.03 per cent.

The previous year, 41 out of 29,301 tickets were appealed - a rate of 0.14 per cent, and in 2003, 73 out of 26,872 were appealed - a rate of 0.27 per cent.

Of the eight in 2005, two were uncontested by the council, three were approved, and three were refused.

Previously, the council's wardens have been criticised as over-zealous, after several controversial incidents.

Paul Abbott, of Micklegate Post Office and a supporter of The Press's Stop The Highway Robbery Campaign, hit out after his car was ticketed while broken down.

In September, Caroline Wardle then criticised the council after she got a ticket on her Dodge Ram pickup, which was too large to fit in a single bay in Castle Car Park. City of York Council agreed to cancel that ticket.

In May, we reported that more than a quarter of PCNs issued by York's traffic wardens ended up being cancelled or written off.

Statistics obtained by The Press showed that since October, 2000, only 72 per cent of penalty charge notices issued in the city had been paid.

The council said only a small minority of penalty notices were issued incorrectly, with most of those that went unpaid being due to motorists providing a valid permit or car park ticket, which was not displayed when the penalty was issued.