THE letters from Mrs P Witlea and Natalie Cooper in The Press (Saturday, May 9) are spot on regarding the Tour de Yorkshire farce.

I spoke to several York residents in the week leading up to the Tour and none of them wanted it or had anything good to say about it.

One lady said she was fed up of all the publicity surrounding it and she was going to Harrogate on the train on the Saturday when it was in York to get away from it all.

A shop assistant in one of York’s big stores was very annoyed as she lives in one of the streets which were blocked off and didn’t know how she would get to work, although she did say they expected the store to be quiet as nobody could get in.

Obviously the traders in York were all down on takings so just exactly who is making any money?

It seems that practically every weekend (especially in summer) the city centre is forbidden to residents. If it’s not bike riders and marathons, it’s hordes of race-goers and tourists clogging the city centre.

If the tour is going to be an annual event, how about an event free/tourist-free weekend (in the summer) where only residents are allowed in York?

As Mrs Witlea rightly says, they are the people who live here and spend their money here all year round.

P M Batey, Gladstone Street, Acomb, York.