SPOILT for choice - that was the position for shoppers looking for a parking spot in York yesterday.

As new figures revealed a drop in the usage of both short and standard stay car parks during April and May, there was little sign that June's summer sunshine has brought any sudden upsurge in the numbers parking up.

City of York Council's own website keeps an up-to-the-minute check on how many spaces are available in most of the city centre's car parks, using data collected as motorists drive in and out through the barriers.

By mid-morning, there were still many hundreds of spaces left across the city, with only 121 out of 290 spaces at the flagship short-stay multi-storey in Piccadilly occupied.

This short-stay car park, right above the Coppergate Centre, has often in the past been the cause of long queues along Piccadilly.

The nearby Castle short-stay car park, below Clifford's Tower, still had 137 vacant spaces out of 305, while 294 spaces out of 420 were unoccupied at nearby St George's Field.

By 1pm, more cars had arrived at many locations, but there were still fewer places occupied than unoccupied. Out of the 2,874 spaces available, 1,384 were taken, leaving 1,490 free.

The fullest car park was Esplanade, but even this 119-space car park still had 19 empty spaces.

At Nunnery Lane, 136 spaces were filled, but that still left 64 available, while the Shambles car park had 168 spaces available out of 275.

The Piccadilly's multi-storey had 181 spots vacant, with only 109 spaces taken. And Castle still had 95 spaces available.

The figures for April and May showed that the amount of revenue from the city centre's three short-stay car parks, where the hourly rate rose on April 1 to £2 an hour, was almost £13,000 less than the same period last year.

Critics said they believed charges had reached a ceiling beyond which many motorists were not prepared to go, but the council said the figures were not comparing like with like, because the busy Easter period fell in March this year and evening income had fallen following changes to evening fees. The authority also said more people were using Park & Ride instead, especially following the opening last summer of the Monks Cross Park & Ride site.

Updated: 10:20 Wednesday, June 29, 2005