Parking points

Firstly, I am pleased that Mrs Taylor and her husband were able to see the city parking attendants doing their job at this time of the day because before October last year traffic wardens were never seen in the city centre area after 6pm and certainly not during the evenings or at weekends.

City of York Council took on these duties in a bid to tackle congestion which residents consistently tell us is a major concern.

Illegal parking in the city can also obstruct emergency vehicles.

Staff now patrol all areas of the city until late evening every day, greatly reducing illegal parking and making the city safer and more pleasant.

For safety reasons it is standard procedure for parking attendants to patrol in pairs in the evenings. On this occasion the police asked us to deal with a large number of illegally-parked cars in the area of King's Staith, Parliament Street and Coney Street.

Two teams were dispatched to the relevant areas to deal with the problem quickly and efficiently; they were then able to quickly get back to other duties elsewhere in the city.

I can also reassure Mrs Taylor that our attendants were doing their job within their regular working hours and not on overtime. Where possible, owners of illegally-parked vehicles were asked to move them or receive a penalty charge notice.

Bill Bird,

Parking services manager

City of York Council,

St Leonard's Place, York.

Updated: 11:37 Friday, August 24, 2001