A YORK resident has hit out at the council after she was given a parking ticket while street cleaning took place near her home.

Daxa Riley, of Bishopthorpe Road, said she received no warning letter about the scheduled gully cleaning work in nearby Southlands Road where she holds a residents' parking permit.

Notices were placed on lamp-posts in the South Bank area, but Mrs Riley, who has two young children, said she did not see them.

She now faces a bill for £60 and claims that six of her neighbours were also caught out by the temporary no parking restriction.

But council bosses said although they make every effort to warn residents by letter when work is planned, it is not possible to write to every home.

Mrs Riley, who has lived in the area for five years, said: "I'm annoyed. No one rang our doorbells and asked us to move our cars. They just put the fines on.

"In my case I did not receive a letter because I live in Bishopthorpe Road, but park in the neighbouring street.

"I have got children aged three-and-a-half and one-and-a-half and I haven't got time to look at lamp posts.

"I'm extremely angry because I don't know why the council are taking my money like this.

They are charging £1-a-day for my visitors, £80 for the residents' permit and on top of this I get this charge as well."

A City of York Council spokeswoman said: "Unfortunately it is simply not possible to notify everyone in a 'res park' area if gulley cleaning is taking place in one of their streets, as there may be 40 to 50 streets in each area.

"Residents in the affected street receive a letter explaining the process and notices are also put up in the street seven days before the gulley cleaning takes place.

"We can only apologise to local residents if they did not receive notification of the work and have been given a penalty charge notice (PCN).

"We would ask anyone who feels that they have received a PCN by mistake to write to us explaining the circumstances as soon as possible."

Yesterday, the Evening Press reported that Good Samaritan Danny Young received a parking ticket as he helped a woman cyclist who had been knocked over in North Street, York

Updated: 08:42 Tuesday, November 16, 2004