MORE than 500 officers will be on duty during Royal Ascot at York, the man in charge of policing the festival has revealed.

Police officers will not be allowed leave and enlarged and high-visibility patrols will be at the hub of a zero-tolerance strategy for the race meeting.

More than 56,000 people a day will be at York Racecourse during the five-day meeting, which runs from June 14 to 18.

In the planning for more than a year, the operation, led by Superintendent Martin Deacon, will crack down on yobs who misbehave when royalty visits Knavesmire.

More than 550 officers and civilian support staff - as much as a third of the force - will be in York during Royal Ascot week patrolling the city and also the area around the railway station.

Supt Deacon said he was "optimistic" that there would not be any serious problems during the race meeting, but promised to clamp down on those who did not toe the line.

He said: "We will have significant numbers of officers on duty well into the night and if people don't behave themselves, we won't put up with it - they will be dealt with very firmly. York is a lovely place and we're optimistic we won't have that sort of behaviour - but if we do it will be dealt with very quickly."

Metropolitan Police officers will be looking after the Royal Family and VIP visitors while they are in York.

The city team have already travelled to Ascot, in Berkshire, to talk to Thames Valley Police about their racecourse arrangements. Officers will also be working with City of York Council chiefs to enforce some aspects of the authority's traffic master plan.

Supt Deacon said residents would not face higher bills for the cost of policing the festival, as Ascot Racecourse would meet some of the charges incurred.

Updated: 10:33 Wednesday, March 16, 2005