YORK'S acting returning officer has disputed claims that ballot papers went missing in the post.

It was reported in The Guardian that hundreds of papers may have gone missing, partly due to last Friday's closure of the Leeman Road sorting office due to a chemical scare.

The Lord Mayor of York Coun John Galvin said he thought the post office had "slipped up".

A Tory spokesman reportedly said: "It seems hundreds of people have not received them [ballot papers].

"People feel disenfranchised. There was a problem with the printing and then the sorting office closed temporarily last week. But there are still a lot missing."

But York's acting returning officer said: "We have issued more than 17,000 postal votes and have had a very high return rate of more than 80 per cent.

"This suggests that the postal votes have reached those who applied for them."