RACING officials today played down concerns about hundreds of thousands of spur-of-the-moment punters flocking to York for Royal Ascot.

The possibility of colossal crowds - and potential traffic gridlock - was raised after York race committee chairman Lord Halifax said open land on Knavesmire could cope with up to 200,000 people daily over the five-day festival in 2005.

In March, the Evening Press reported that a maximum of 50,000 people would be allowed to attend each day.

But Lord Halifax said this limit referred to "racecourse enclosures only" - and called on "the world" to come to York. He wants to see Knavesmire full "from the first furlong down".

Nick Smith, head of public relations at Ascot Racecourse, said it was hard to predict how many race fans would turn up on the open land.

Stressing the inclusive nature of the event, he said: "The 200,000 figure could be a little bit optimistic, but we just don't know. It could be significantly less."

The 200,000 figure was raised in the context of the Pope's 1981 visit to York, which attracted a large attendance. Officials say there will be much less open space available during Ascot.

Meanwhile, Ascot officials, who run the Royal meeting, today moved swiftly to reassure residents they were focusing efforts to ensure traffic in the city did not grind to a halt for the festival.

Mr Smith said: "If people live in the area and are walking to the racecourse, that's no problem.

"But if they are driving in without tickets and car parking spaces, this will be an issue.

"We are aware of this and looking into it. We want people to come and we want to embrace the local community, but we have to be practical." He said organising the festival was a balance between promoting a fantastic sporting event and listening to racecourse residents.

Mr Smith said management of common land and detailed traffic plans were still being discussed with the police.

But he said: "What we do not want is an en-masse exodus from all around York in cars.

"What we must not have is cars being discarded ad-hoc in York, bringing the area to a standstill."

Meanwhile, the police chief charged with handling York Royal Ascot crowds, Superintendent Martin Deacon, of North Yorkshire Police, said the issue of common land would be taken into account in talks with Ascot officials.

Updated: 08:30 Monday, May 10, 2004