IS YORK pedestrianised? Recently it has been difficult not to notice the increasing amount of cars driving through the centre of the city.

The rules state that cars carrying disabled people can have access at any time, yet I haven’t seen a consequent increase in the amount of disabled people in the streets.

In fact, most of the cars only seem to contain one person, who due to the ability to be able to drive I presume aren’t disabled. Not only that, the pedestrian hours don’t even cover the times the shops and museums are open.

Most first-time visitors would presume the area wasn’t pedestrianised. This makes strolling the streets of York a much less pleasurable experience and one I hope never to repeat. A grateful non-resident.

Freeman Crick, Manor Garth, Riccall.

• Dave Carter, head of network management, City of York Council, said: “The council is aware that the disabled access arrangements for the city centre can be abused. Where possible we actively enforce the restrictions. However, it is not always obvious what disability a person may have from their physical appearance and the driver may not be the person who has the disability, but may be transporting a disabled passenger.

“With regard to the operating times of the pedestrianised areas, these are being reviewed. A fine balance needs to maintained between suitable levels of accessibility for business and the need to provide shoppers with a pleasant environment.”