BOSSES at York Racecourse have apologised to punters for the traffic chaos at Saturday's John Smith's Cup meeting.

The second day of the two-day meeting on Saturday drew the biggest crowds the racecourse has seen since Royal Ascot with 42,548 people turning out.

But for many the event was marred by traffic chaos caused by car parks that had turned into quagmires and people parking illegally, including buses double parking in Knavesmire Road leading into the course.

The situation was made worse by an accident on the north bound carriageway of the A1 at Wetherby which led to lengthy tailbacks on the A64 for punters entering the city from further afield.

Racecourse spokesman James Brennan apologised to anyone who was caught up in the traffic gridlock on Bishopthorpe Road and Knavesmire Road.

Mr Brennan said: "The record crowds meant we had 500 coaches at the course on Saturday.

"The rain we got on Friday night was not forecast and unfortunately the coach park was a victim of the wet weather. Once we realised it could not be used in its entirety we parked some of the coaches on Bishopthorpe Road, but a small number, four or five drivers, decided to park on Knavesmire Road, illegally, which caused considerable problems. As ever we will sit down with the council and the police and see if there's anything we want to do ahead of the next meeting."

Judy Horwell, police liaison officer for York Taxi Association, said taxi drivers had to abandon their pick-up and drop off point on Tadcaster Road because it was blocked by buses.

She said: "The situation was utterly shambolic. We can accept the number of coaches that were there couldn't get on to the field because it was so wet so they had to park on one side of Knavesmire Road, but on both sides made the situation unworkable and unsafe.

"No taxis went down there for one hour because it was so unsafe and we didn't want to put members of the public at risk.

"There was some much anger and frustration that a lot of our drivers just went home.

"We will be meeting with the racecourse before the Ebor meeting on August 21, 22 and 23 to see what lessons can be learned here."

The traffic chaos not only affected punters, but owners, trainers and jockeys too.

Apprentice rider William Buick rode joint favourite Greek Well in to fourth place in the John Smith's Cup.

But he nearly didn't make it at all after he had to run the last three miles to the track with traffic at a standstill after the A1 was closed due to the earlier accident.

Thousands of punters were caught up in the same nightmare scenario and had to trudge up the course from the six-furlong start, with many making it just in time for the big race. People who had booked tickets fro the cancelled June race meeting and decided to reuse them on Saturday may have helped swell the crowd numbers to over 42,000.

Last week The Press reported that City of York Council had problems with the installation of temporary traffic lights at the Knavesmire Gate outside the Tadcaster Road entrance to the course following heavy rainfall.

This meant the lights, which have been used at major race meetings at York for the last three years, were not in operation for the John Smith meeting.

Water had forced its way into the cable system, causing damage to equipment. Despite a determined effort to fix the problem prior to the race meeting, there were fears that the lights could fail at a busy time and that this, in turn, would cause road safety issues.

Gambler scoops £400k

IT WASN'T all doom and gloom at the races - as one lucky punter scooped half-a-million pounds by correctly guessing four of the winners at York.

The winner claimed £427,433.99 from a Scoop6 pool bet managed by totesport, which gives punters the chance to win a fortune for a £2 stake.

The challenge is to pick all six winners from six selected televised races during Saturday meetings.

Four of the six winners were horse running at the John Smith's Cup in York - Vicious Warrior, Prospect Court, Charlie Tokyo and Countdown.

More rain on the way

THE Met Office is forecasting more rain this week.

Today the forecast was for outbreaks of rain becoming brighter with showers.

The outlook for tomorrow to Thursday is for cool and unsettled weather, with more rain on the way.