COUNCIL bosses are cracking down on householders who fail to move their cars when cleaners come to their streets - warning that they could face a £30 fine.

City of York Council has a rolling programme of gully emptying and road sweeping in terraced streets.

Paul Thackray, head of highways and street operations, said letters were distributed to residents, informing them of when their street was due for a clean, and asking them to move their cars. But he said that cars left on streets sometimes made it impossible for large gully and street cleaning machines to get into the street.

The council's commercial services department aims to clean the gullies and paths of four terraced streets every Thursday.

A temporary traffic order is put in place, prohibiting parking on named streets from 9am until noon. After delivering letters to affected properties, notices are put up on the Tuesday or Wednesday before the work and "no waiting" cones are put in the streets at 6.30am on the Thursday morning.

Anyone who fails to move their vehicle could be issued with a £30 fine, rising to £60 after 14 days. Residents can appeal against the fine.

Mr Thackray said penalties had been issued in the past, but he said: "We mean business now - we are still getting lots of parked vehicles."

He explained that the gully machine was needed to clear out deposits of silt that build up in drains, sometimes leading to flooding.

He said: "I think most residents understand that we need to get into the road - and we can be in and out within a matter of hours.

"If we don't clean out the gullies we end up with flooding problems and water left on the road can be dangerous in icy conditions - so we need to remove it.

"It also gives us the opportunity to clean the streets properly which we can't do when vehicles are parked there."

Anyone who wants to check when their street will be cleaned can phone the York Pride Action line on 01904 551551.

Updated: 09:43 Monday, March 08, 2004