GRITTING policies in York's car parks have been defended by the council after people and cars struggled in an ice-bound Castle Car Park in the city centre.

City of York Council said spreading grit in such areas was difficult because of the amount of parked cars and warned focusing on car parks would be a “big drain on resources”.

Councillor Dafydd Williams, cabinet member for Communities and Neighbourhoods said staff and snow warden volunteers had been working “round the clock to keep York open for business”.

He said: “Like every public body our resources are limited and we have made it clear that our priority for using those resources is to keep the main routes for vehicles, cycles and pedestrians clear. This inevitably means that clearing the car parks of snow, while important, is a lower priority than our main routes. We do respond to specific problems in car parks as they occur, but do not grit them as part of the general regime.

“It is worth bearing in mind that clearing the car parks is a more difficult task given that we have to spread grit around parked cars. It would be a big drain on our resources and if we were to make this a priority, it would be at the expense of the main routes in the city.”