A YORK motorist who was angered when his residents' parking permit doubled in price says he hit a brick wall when he tried to complain.

Andrew Fravigar says City of York Council is hiking the charge for his ResPark permit from £41 to £84.

Mr Fravigar, who lives in St John's Crescent, off Lord Mayor's Walk, said he was astonished when he discovered the size of the increase, which he viewed as "extortionate".

But when he tried to lodge complaints with the council's own trading standards department, the Office of Fair Trading and the Local Government Ombudsman, no one was able to investigate.

He said a trading standards department official replied, saying: "Unfortunately, as trading standards is in the same directorate as parking services, it would not be appropriate for me to try and assist you with your enquiry."

The letter added that if Mr Fravigar would forward his address, he would be sent a copy of the council's complaints procedure.

Mr Fravigar said he viewed the imposition of the charge as an unfair practice, imposed by an organisation which was able to fix prices without facing any competition.

But the OFT replied saying it was unable to act. It said it did have powers under the Competition Act 1998 to take strong action against cartel agreements between firms to fix prices, and could also take action against firms which were "in a dominant position in a market, if they are charging persistently excessive prices in relation to 'the economic value of the product'...

"However, neither of the prohibitions of the Act would appear to be applicable in this instance."

Mr Fravigar said the Ombudsman had replied that, as it was a complaint about a council policy, it was not able to investigate.

"It's frustrating," he said. "There seems to be no one you can complain to."

A council spokesman said trading standards could not investigate a council policy, but would become involved if a legal or criminal issue arose, for example involving food or health and safety issues on council premises.

Updated: 10:14 Saturday, May 29, 2004