TWENTY-FOUR hour parking charges have arrived in York city centre - as retailers raise fresh concerns with council chiefs over parking for customers and staff.

Following the controversial introduction of evening and on-street parking charges, along with a hike in daytime fees, it has emerged that car park ticket machines have also started displaying a 10p charge for parking between 9pm and 8am.

But City of York Council said it would not fine people who refused to pay the overnight charge - and revealed that parking attendants could even be disciplined if they issued tickets to non-paying drivers.

Peter Evely, head of highway regulation at the council, said the new charge was "purely a legal device," which was not about generating revenue but "oiling the wheels" in case the council ever wanted to respond quickly to the private sector and increase night-time parking tariffs.

He said a nominal charge had to be in place before the council was legally allowed to increase charges without going through lengthy bureaucratic procedures.

If no charge was in place and the council wanted to impose one at short notice, it would have to make a costly legal order, which could take months.

"It gives members more flexibility to vary charges, up or down and over the full 24 hours, as they wish."

Labour councillor Tracey Simpson-Laing warned: "When you put a charging mechanism in place you then have the ability to up that level of 10p a night to 10p an hour, for example," she said.

"It's important people realise the implications of this. The floodgates are now open for 24-hour charges."

But the council's Lib Dem executive member for planning and transport, Coun Ann Reid, said the charges gave the council maximum flexibility for changing tariffs in the future, but there were no plans to do so.

A report revealed today that economic development chiefs from City of York Council have had a series of meetings with retailers, chambers and out-of-town managers to discuss their views on the strengths and weaknesses of York as a shopping venue.

Parking for customers, staff and suppliers was one of the issues of concern they raised, said the report to next Tuesday's economic development and community safety scrutiny board.

The report was prompted by a previous survey which revealed that only eight per cent of visitors cited shopping as their main reason for visiting York. At one time, the figure was as low as four per cent. Traders today insisted that city centre businesses were not in crisis, but stepped up demands for lower parking fees, saying increased charges would push shoppers to out-of-town shops, where parking was free.

Geraint Morris, manager of Boots in Coney Street said the survey did not reflect strong sales, with more late night opening in the pipeline at the store.

But he hit out at city parking prices. "If you deter people from coming to the city in their cars they will shop out of town where parking is free."

Len Cruddas, York and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce chief executive, agreed parking charges were "too high", although he did not think York was "turning people away in droves."

Updated: 10:32 Monday, March 15, 2004