CHARITIES and voluntary organisations have been told they can no longer use a York church for major fundraising sales after it failed a wiring inspection.

Christian Aid is one of half a dozen organisations who have lost St Martin-cum-Gregory Church, in Micklegate, as a venue for sales.

The Christian Aid shop raised £11,000 last year through the sale of second-hand goods. Up to 200 volunteers of various denominations from across the city helped run the shop.

The sale had originally been due to take place again in the church this year between April 24 and May 2, but then organisers were told that the wiring was unsafe and the venue was no longer available.

Christian Aid shop committee chairman Vic Naylor, a qualified electrician, said he had offered to install a lighting system for the period to keep the sale going. But to his disappointment, the offer was eventually refused by the parochial church council.

Now he is hoping individual churches across the city will organise their own fundraising events this spring to ensure the income is not lost to the charity. "It's quite a sizeable sum," he said.

Meanwhile, he says Christian Aid is hoping to resume its big sale next year - at the Guildhall. Other organisations who have used the church for sales over the years include Scout groups, the Feed the Mind charity and Age Concern.

David Brown, who handled bookings for St Martin's, said it had unfortunately been impossible to accept Christian Aid's offer to provide its own lighting. "If there had been an accident, the church would have been liable," he said. Nor had it been an option to carry out expensive improvements to the wiring at a church, which was looking likely to be made redundant. The church had not been used for services for years and was one of a number being proposed for redundancy in the York area. Mr Brown said all the organisations which normally hired out the church had been informed. "It's a disappointment to us as well," he said. "We got a bit of useful income out of it." He said sales could not take place without lighting, as it was too dark inside.

Updated: 10:48 Thursday, March 06, 2003