A YORK hotelier today claimed her business was being blighted by traffic measures introduced by the council to tackle this week's Ebor race meeting.

Anne Radford, manager of the Elmbank Hotel, in Driffield Terrace, on The Mount, has launched her own protest against measures from the council to control traffic driving into York.

After parking was restricted on the road outside the hotel she put up a sign asking for all complaints to be directed to City of York Council.

She also said there had been no notification given to the hotel about the parking restrictions or the road closure.

"I have had customers coming in, not being able to park, cancelling and driving away. Who knows how much business we will lose from these measures.

"One man came in and shouted obscenities at us because he couldn't park and we had said he could.

"It wouldn't have been so bad if we had been informed, but to just come into work and find this traffic chaos is ridiculous."

Parking restrictions were put in place on side roads off The Mount and Tadcaster Road with the main road being closed to outgoing traffic from 11am to 2pm.

The Evening Press checked with a number of nearby hoteliers.

Staff reported parking problems for workers, but none we spoke to had similar problems for guests.

The hotel staff also said they had received leaflets about the restrictions.

A City of York Council spokesperson said: "The temporary restrictions currently in place in The Mount area have been developed over a number of years to assist local residents and businesses by preventing parking congestion caused by race-goers and allowing continuous access.

"We have not made any changes to this system for the Ebor meeting and local people should be well used to the arrangements."

At midday, cars queued along Tadcaster Road, past York Station and back as far as Rougier Street.

York Police confirmed that the traffic was "very heavy" across the city.

In the Fishergate and Tower Street area, the situation was worse because vehicles coming from Fulford were temporarily prohibited from Skeldergate Bridge.

The roads confusion came as thousands were expected to attend the three-day Ebor meeting. Bookings for York's landmark meeting, which runs until Thursday, have already topped last year's record numbers.

Updated: 14:34 Tuesday, August 17, 2004