HOW exciting for local York residents to be able to enjoy the trappings of Royal Ascot for the fantastic price of £4.

My friend and I live in Y024 3NW and eagerly awaited March 29 so that we could ring and book tickets.

Plans of picnics in the sunshine, watching the processions and then the racing, seeing all the things that you only ever see on the television for real.

Some hopes! Apparently Y024 3NW does not fall into the two-mile radius that allows York residents to buy tickets.

When I inquired at the Ascot box office why this was, they could not answer me.

It seems ludicrous that I live closer to the race course than people in Y030 7 and Y031 7, and they can buy tickets yet I cannot.

No one seems able to answer this query. But I would like to know why residents in Y024 3 have been overlooked or excluded.

C A McGall,

Hinton Avenue,

York.

Updated: 10:28 Friday, April 01, 2005