POLICE have reported a relatively quiet Bank Holiday weekend in York compared to recent public holidays.

The Press had revealed police station cells in York and North Yorkshire were filled to capacity over Christmas and new year.

But Insp Richard Abbott, the response inspector at Fulford Road police station, said there had not been a repeat of the festive period's proceedings.

"We had a busy weekend," he said. "It was good-spirited in town, and people were enjoying themselves, but behaving themselves in general. We weren't up to capacity. There was still room at the inn."

He said there had been a number of arrests for public order offences, but not on the same scale as at Christmas.

The Fulford Road station has 24 custody cells, with a further nine cells available in Selby.

The custody suite at Selby was reopened in 2005, so officers in York would spend less time ferrying prisoners to faraway stations such as Northallerton and Skipton when Fulford Road was full.

The Selby cells operate between 10pm on Thursdays and 6am on Mondays, to coincide with weekend peak periods.

Last year, there was trouble over Easter as a dozen people were arrested following clashes before and after York City's 2-0 defeat by Halifax Town.

About 90 officers were on duty in the city on Easter Monday to deal with a series of incidents stemming from the Yorkshire derby.

A group of 200 away supporters were escorted from KitKat Crescent to the railway station after the match.

On New Year's Eve, officers had to put in place "contingency plans" after all the force's cells were occupied.