A CAR park on the site of a former car dealership on the outskirts of York city centre is operating illegally, according to the city council.

The Press reported yesterday that Premier Parking Solutions had taken over running the car park of the former Reg Vardy Citroen dealership in Lawrence Street, just outside the Bar Walls and close to Walmgate Bar, offering parking at 50p an hour.

The prices undercut council-run car parks such as St George’s Field car park, where a one-hour ticket costs £1.50 for an hour for a non-resident and £1 for a resident.

Meanwhile, at Castle car park the charge for an hour is £2 for a non-resident and £1.70 for a resident.

A spokesman for Premier Parking Solutions said the company usually applied for retrospective planning permission after it started operating a site. But a spokeswoman for City of York Council said the car park did not have planning permission, and needed council consent to operate legally.

Local councillor Dave Taylor, of Fishergate ward, said: “It’s unacceptable. This company is doing something they shouldn’t be doing, and I hope that the council’s enforcement officers will act quickly to deal with them.

“We have seen this happen before, with areas of land being used as illegal car parks, and that is what this is.”

The garage closed last year, and yesterday ticket machines and signs were being put up displaying parking prices at the site, which could hold around 50 cars.

The Rev Tim Jones, the vicar at St Laurence’s Church, which adjoins the site, said the nearest council car park at Kent Street was an all-day car park, which could cause problems when it came to finding short-term alternatives.

Mr Jones said: “I don’t see a real problem with having the parking there, although I may have a concern if it gets to the summer and we are holding funerals and weddings at the church and we have people parking their cars, opening and shutting doors and just going about their business right next door.”