VOTERS will not discover the final twist in York’s Coppergate saga until after next month’s council elections, The Press can reveal.

City of York Council has been waiting for more than a year for the outcome of its appeal against a watchdog’s ruling that it had no power to fine car drivers for using Coppergate during the day.

The national Traffic Penalty Tribunal said last month that it hoped to finally announce its decision on the council’s challenge shortly.

But now the tribunal’s Chief Adjudicator Caroline Sheppard “does not consider it appropriate to issue the review decision relating to this case in the run-up to the local elections on May 7,” said appeals coordinator Natalie Smith.

She said the decision would instead be issued shortly after the elections.

The news was given in a letter from the tribunal to York motorist Nigel Rhodes, whose appeal against his fine for using Coppergate led to its bombshell ruling last spring - which in turn led to the authority ending its ban on cars crossing Lendal Bridge and its later refund of thousands of motorists.

Another £387,000 paid in fines by motorists caught on camera using Coppergate has been set aside by the council in case it has to issue refunds to them.

Mr Rhodes, of Acomb, condemned the decision to withhold the decision, saying: “Voters should have the right to know this decision before they vote. The tribunal is wrong to withhold it. We deserve to know.”

A tribunal spokesman told The Press: “I can confirm that a decision will not now be made until after the upcoming elections. This decision has been taken by the Chief Adjudicator. As soon as I have receive an indication of when this decision is likely to be made I shall inform you.”

The tribunal said last May that if the adjudicator upheld the original decision, the council would have to accept the ruling unless it decided to apply to the High Court for a judicial review. The council had withdrawn the challenge to the aspect of the ruling that applied to Lendal Bridge.

Council leader Dafydd Williams criticised the delay. He said: “I wanted this to have been resolved months ago and for them to have taken a year to make a decision is absurd.”

He said the potential for the decision being made during the election period was evidence of the poor handling of the matter and said nobody from Labour had asked for the delay. He said: “On the contrary, just like everyone else in York, I want this matter resolved quickly.”

Sarah Tanburn, the council’s interim director of city and environmental services, said: “It was entirely the Traffic Penalty Tribunal’s (TPT) decision to postpone its ruling on Coppergate to post-election, and not during the purdah period.

“The permanent restrictions have been in place in Coppergate for over 50 years and jointly enforced between North Yorkshire Police and the council.

“If the TPT determine that camera enforcement is not allowed in Coppergate this would be a landmark decision which would have significant repercussions on bus-lane enforcement nationally, impacting on many local authorities.

“Therefore we recognise (their decision) to postpone the ruling during the purdah period.”