A YORK supermarket embroiled in a parking row with council chiefs has triggered outrage - by banning staff from leaving their cars at their own workplace.

Morrisons bosses drove shelf stackers into a rage when they told them to find somewhere else to park in Acomb.

City of York Council recently ripped down two-hour restriction signs at Morrison's after it said the company ignored a demand to get rid of them.

Now the supermarket giant claims that without these restrictions there is not enough room in the car park for customers.

So the day after signs were removed, they told staff to find new parking spots.

But furious workers claim there is nowhere else suitable to leave their cars.

One member of staff, who asked not to be named, said: "We are the ones who make the shop run, now they say we can't park there."

She claimed staff had been advised to park at Acomb Library - run by the council - or on nearby streets.

"Staff are absolutely raving," she added. "It's very unfair."

Another worker added: "Where else can we park? If there was a pay-and-display in Acomb we would use it, but there isn't.

"Other people who work in Acomb can park in Morrison's, but we can't."

The worker said that of about 150 staff at the Acomb store, about half of them drove to work. With only about 30 on shift at once, she said there was still plenty of room left for shoppers to park.

A Morrison's spokesman would not comment on claims staff had been told to park at the library.

He added: "Since the council removed the signs indicating a two-hour restriction on parking at the store, we are now anticipating an increased volume of traffic in the car park.

"To ensure we have sufficient spaces for our valued customers, we have asked staff not to park their vehicles in the car park for the time being." In response, a City of York Council spokeswoman said: "Since 1984 there has been an agreement in place between the three owners of the car park: the supermarket, council and working men's club.

"This has worked well, and we are saddened the change in ownership of the former Safeway stores to Morrison's has resulted in this deterioration in people being able to park in their local shopping centre car park."

She added: "We are very anxious to find a permanent solution to the situation created by Morrison's, and will be talking to them in due course when we have all the necessary legal facts in front of us.

"In the meantime, we will resist any moves to change the current arrangements."

Updated: 10:22 Monday, July 18, 2005