A DEPARTMENT store is offering customers a parking fee refund in an effort to spark a campaign to lure shoppers back into York city centre.

Supersave, in Fossgate, will refund the cost of an hour's parking to shoppers who spend £15 or more on items.

Manager Graham Audus says he decided to launch the promotion after the store suffered an eight per cent drop in trade in the 12 weeks from April to June, compared with the same period last year.

He believed sky-high daytime parking charges and the introduction of evening and on-street charges were primarily to blame for the decline in the store's business, which has been operating for 50 years.

He said they had speeded a decline that had been under way since 1999, following increases in daytime parking charges and competition from more out-of-town shopping centres.

He believed evening charges have worsened the impact, because they deter window shoppers and also customers who might previously have gone shopping on an afternoon before staying on in the city centre for a meal or a show.

He claimed it was vital that City of York Council proclaimed that York was not anti-car, and took action to promote the city centre and attract shoppers back in.

"I am trying to encourage people to come back into the city," he said "They could offer free parking for a period in the day, or say for all-day on a quiet day," he said. "There needs to be some drastic incentive to come back to York."

He would also like to see evening charges scrapped, and daytime charges back to 2000 levels.

Coun Quentin Macdonald, City of York Council's executive member for resources, said Mr Audus was right that out-of-town shopping centres were not helping the city centre, and welcomed his initiative.

Updated: 09:22 Saturday, July 10, 2004