S GREAVES (Letters, July 12) appears to have misunderstood the information you published about Ascot and our trial of a different way of managing race traffic.

Tadcaster Road is not being blocked off "for race days".

In fact, a short length - in one direction only - is being closed for three hours in the middle of the day when traffic heading out of the city is at its lightest.

This will help race traffic, and everyone else, get into the city easily and quickly.

During this short period, signing will be in place on the Inner Ring Road and elsewhere to direct traffic out onto the A64 by one of the other main roads.

Traffic in Dringhouses will be greater than normal but this happens on every race day and also whenever there is any event of any size held on Knavesmire.

To say that there will be "chaos" and that the lives of children will be at risk is an exaggeration.

Much thought and effort has gone into planning for Ascot.

We do not want to spend our day battling traffic jams if, by careful planning now, we can avoid it.

Peter Evely,

Head of Network Management,

City of York Council,

St Leonard's Place,

York.

Updated: 09:31 Monday, July 19, 2004