York Hospital's traffic nightmare is set to continue well into 2007, after it emerged long-running plans for a new car park have been delayed by another year.

Managers were raising ideas for a multi-storey car park back in 1997, after a major health review highlighted the shortage of parking at the Wigginton Road site.

Tenders for the work were being sought in 2001, with initial hopes the new parking deck could be operational by 2003. But the £1.4million scheme only got full planning consent last year after lengthy delays over temporary parking.

Work was about to start in June last year - but it hit a further stumbling block after a sub-contracted firm went into liquidation.

Health bosses then predicted the car park would be finished this spring - but it has now emerged it has been deliberately delayed so its design can be changed, and building work has still not even begun.

A spokesman for First Management Group - York Hospital's partner in the scheme - confirmed the car park was now likely to be finished in spring 2007.

The new setback will mean many more months of congestion misery for hospital users, who have been frustrated by lengthy traffic queues for years.

Danny Morgan, director of facilities at York Hospital, said building work had been put on hold so the car park's design could be altered to allow it to fit in with any future building work on the site.

"If we went ahead as we planned originally, we would limit future building flexibility in the hospital," he said.

"Once we do start building, we will move as quickly as we can."

Edna Mulhearn, Unison representative for the hospital, said she was "very disappointed" that the scheme had seen a further lengthy setback.

"It's a nightmare for my members," she said.

"The car park is very hard to get into.

"I can understand that they've got to get the design right - (but) they knew what staff feel about inadequate car parking. Why couldn't this have been decided in the very beginning, when it was being discussed?

"To be fair to the hospital, they have pushed for this - they do realise what a nightmare situation it is for staff."

The work will involve building an extra deck built on top of the hospital's existing car park, providing another 250 spaces.

Selby MP John Grogan said that while the delay was disappointing, he could understand why the hospital wanted to build the car park in a way which did not preclude constructing new clinical buildings in the future.

Updated: 09:57 Tuesday, January 10, 2006