POLICE chiefs said today they would be paying "special attention" to a new bikers' caf bar that has brought traffic chaos to rural roads and villages in the Selby area.

About 3,000 bikers from all over Yorkshire descended on Squires Caf Bar, at Newthorpe, near Sherburn-in-Elmet, on Wednesday evening, clogging up roads in the area.

This photograph was taken by biker Dave Dee, of York, who said the new venue - which opened two weeks ago - was "fantastic", but he was concerned about the tailbacks, with queues all the way from the A1.

Mr Dee, who runs a furniture removal business, said: "It was absolute chaos with motorbikes and cars parked on the road leading to the caf.

"They were parking on the road instead of the car park. Buses and lorries couldn't get through, but what concerned me most of all was that an ambulance, with its blue light flashing, also got stuck.

"It's a superb venue but there obviously needs to be better marshalling, especially on Wednesday evenings, which attract the biggest number of bikers.

"On Wednesday it looked like Mallory Park and at present it's causing havoc for the rest of the public."

Sergeant Graham Carroll, of the North Yorkshire police road traffic group, based at Tadcaster, said today they were looking at a range of options to improve the situation.

He said: "I had six officers there on Wednesday. One of them climbed on to a wall and used the caf's public address system to appeal to bikers and motorists to move their vehicles from the road.

"They co-operated without a second asking, but we now need to tackle the problem in the long term.

"We've had meetings with North Yorkshire highways chiefs and our own traffic management department.

"One of the options is to put double white lines down which would preclude people from parking on the road and the grass verges.

"In the meantime we will be paying special attention to the area. Our main concern is the safety of road users and we will move swiftly to resolve this problem."

Caf bar owner Harry Weston said he was as concerned as everybody else and was trying to buy some land from a local farmer so he could extend the car park.

He said he was also considering marshalling the area on Wednesday evenings.

Updated: 11:07 Friday, April 12, 2002