MY friend and I went to meet some friends on Friday for early dinner in York before we went to the opera.

Because of the parking costs being charged to 9pm we could not park near the Grand Opera House, where the limit is only three hours. So we parked at St Georges at a cost of £5.50.

As if the exorbitant cost of parking on an evening wasn't enough, we also had to walk back by the river late on a Friday evening - not pleasant for two middle-aged ladies.

The unfortunate outcome of these charges will mean that people will no longer come into York for early dinner before the theatre or the cinema but will probably eat at home before, which seems an awful shame for all the restaurants.

This is not penalising tourists but the people of York and outlying villages.

Tosca was great but the evening turned out to be extremely expensive.

Janet Berry,

Hambleton, Selby.

...SOME years ago, Lucinda Lampton hosted a show on the BBC about ancient cathedral cities and monuments. On the visit to York, Lucinda Lampton and an architect sat on the Bar Walls near the station and his prediction to Lucinda was that York would become the hole of a polo mint and anyone visiting the city centre would have to pay to enter.

Parking charges and the traffic flow system is now making this prediction come true.

As things stand it can only get worse.

T B Aldis,

Albion Avenue,

Acomb,

York.

Updated: 10:06 Monday, March 22, 2004