YORK city centre witnessed the novelty of a car boot sale as part of the battle against out-of-town competition.

Car boot traders arrived at York Market, behind Parliament Street, yesterday and organisers were delighted with the impact on the business done by market traders themselves.

Darren Lovatt, deputy market manager, said he was slightly disappointed with the turnout of car boot traders but was very happy with the number of customers.

He said: "For the first day, it's been excellent. It's served its purpose which is increasing footfall in the area.

"We wanted the early morning punters because market trade is never very special on Sunday morning compared with the afternoon.

"Some people who came to the car boot didn't even know there was a Sunday market."

Mr Lovatt said that the price for a pitch at the car boot sale would go down from £10 to £7.50 for next weekend and would remain at that price for the rest of the trial period.

He added that he had already received more bookings for next Sunday's car boot sale.

Updated: 09:26 Monday, July 02, 2001