A GUN club's members are carrying their rifles and pistols along a busy York street to get to their range, following a parking row.

Members of the York Railway Institute Rifle and Pistol Club have for decades parked for free on railway land next to their firing range.

But barriers installed recently by GNER mean they must now pay a £4.50 fee each time to leave the car park, even if they have only been there for an hour's shooting.

They say the charges are prohibitive, and so are parking instead on a different site behind the Railway Institute gymnasium.

But there is no direct way through to the range from there, and so members are having to take a long detour with their weapons up and down the pavement along Queen Street - part of York's busy inner ring road.

A club spokesman said: "They are carried in huge cases and are very heavy. Some of these guns can weigh up to 22lbs and some members are carrying two of them.

"And members are not happy about having to take them along a public street. It's not something that is appreciated nowadays.

"We have been parking there for 30 years with no charge and no restrictions."

He said GNER had promised on several occasions to supply the club with passes which would raise the barriers, possibly for a nominal sum of £100. But these had still not been handed over.

He said the problems had deterred members coming along to the club. He said he suffered bad arthritis and could not carry his guns that distance.

"If this carries on, it could be the end of the club after almost 100 years."

A GNER spokesman said that the club was wanting to use the station car park to go to premises which were not part of the station.

However, the company was sympathetic to the club's problems and had offered it discounted parking for evenings, when the car park was not heavily used. The offer was available for the club to take up.

He declined to reveal what discount had been offered, saying this was a matter between GNER and the club, but confirmed it was considerably less than £4.50 per member.

Updated: 12:04 Tuesday, August 14, 2001