RESIDENTS in an area of York were baffled when an anonymous document came through their letterboxes, defending City of York Council's parking policies.

The two-page document, headed Car Park Issues From Tonight's Paper, was delivered to a number of homes in Acomb after the Evening Press launched its Stop The Highway Robbery campaign earlier this month.

It denied the economy had been adversely affected by new charges, claimed new yellow lines had only caused the loss of 160 legal parking spaces, and blamed high daytime parking charges on the former Labour administration, which it said had brought in the "major increases" before the Liberal Democrats came to power.

It also claimed that Samaritan volunteers worried about their safety while walking between their offices and Nunnery Lane car park at night could be watched by CCTV cameras. It said the charity, which featured in the launch of the campaign, already had more parking concessions than any other in the city, including three Respark permits.

A voluntary sector worker, Rosemary Suttill, contacted the Evening Press to say that the delivery of such an anonymous letter was a "curious twist" to the parking charges tale.

She said: "The information in the anonymous letter means the writer is almost certainly a council employee. This seems a strange task for council employees."

The Samaritans' director, Rachael Brayshaw, said it was hard to tell who had penned the anonymous note. She also queried the suggestion that CCTV cameras could watch volunteers all the way to and from the offices.

She said: "The cameras must be really special as to see round corners and through buildings. The branch cannot be viewed from the car park in Nunnery Lane."

She added that the Respark permits did not guarantee spaces, and there was often little opportunity for even one to park.

The mystery of who penned the document was quickly solved by Coun Ann Reid, executive member for planning and transport, who has responsibility for charges. She said she had written it as a briefing to fellow Liberal Democrats on the council.

But she had no idea how it came to be delivered anonymously to ordinary residents, saying only she suspected that "mischief-makers" might have been responsible.

However, she said there was nothing confidential in the papers which should not have been revealed, and much of which had already been communicated to residents. She said the CCTV cameras could follow Samaritans for all but the very last section of their walk to the offices, providing peace of mind if they felt that it would be useful.

Updated: 08:27 Tuesday, July 20, 2004