SHOPPERS in York have been warned not to buy magazines from street vendors claiming to be from either of the city’s universities.

Vendors in Coney Street have been charging £3 for so-called “RAG Mags”, which they claimed were written by students to pay tuition fees.

But shoppers have been warned that vendors did not represent either York St John University or the University of York.

“We do have a magazine but it is an internal one, we don’t sell it to the public,” said Andy Winter, general manager of York St John University’s Student Union.

“We make sure that any time our guys are doing any fundraising they have the right permits and our logo is on anything we sell to raise money.”

Councillor James Alexander, a former president of the University of York Student Union said he challenged one vendor.

“I was stopped by a seller and when I asked which students’ union the magazines were from, she said it wasn’t from the union,” he said.

“I asked which university and she said she was at Lancaster. I also asked where the money went and she said it went towards students’ tuition fees. I asked what bursaries and she could not answer. They are not selling these magazines on behalf of any university or college.”

Tim Ngwena, president of York University Student Union, confirmed the vendors were not affiliated with the university.

“If they were genuinely raising funds for the university, they would have identification and details about where the money was going,” he said.

A City of York Council spokeswoman said a number of complaints about the vendors had been received, but no offences had been committed.

“There are very few rules regulating this kind of activity – they do not require a licence from the council to trade, for example. However, if sellers make false claims about what is on offer or where the money is going this may be something that trading standards could look into further,” she said.