LATE night Park and Ride services kick off in York tonight, and shoppers can get free parking in Piccadilly multi-storey car park between now and Christmas.

Tonight will be the first night of late night Park & Ride services, which will be running every Thursday night between now and Christmas, and six nights a week on one route.

First York has extended its bus services until around 9.30pm every Thursday night on five out of the six Park and Ride routes, and the later services will run Monday to Saturday on the Designer Outlet red line route.

At the same time, the council and York Business Improvement District (BID) have worked together to offer free parking at Piccadilly multi-storey car park from 3pm to 9pm every Thursday and Friday from now until Friday, December 22.

Marc Bichtemann, Managing Director of First York, said: “If you're planning to visit York in the run up to Christmas, Park and Ride offers a fast, affordable and hassle-free way to get into the city centre. We had a fantastic response from customers to our late-night Park and Ride services last year and we’re looking forward to welcoming even more people on board this year.”

The BID's executive director Andrew Lowson said Christmas in the city centre was going to be "bigger and better than ever before" with the free parking to make it more accessible.

Park & Ride services will run every 15 minutes from all Park & Ride sites every Thursday, with the last services leaving the city centre at around 9.30pm.

A full timetable is available from www.itravelyork.info.