MOTORISTS have told how their evenings out in York were ruined by unexpected parking tickets.

A couple from Goole say they parked at the Castle car park to go for their 17th wedding anniversary meal, unaware that evening charges had been introduced. A Scarborough man said he parked in the Marygate car park to go for a riverside walk and a meal and also got a ticket. He said he was also unaware of the new charges.

In both cases, they say there was no warning sign to alert them to the introduction of new charges.

Kassie and Eamonn Holliday, of Belgrave Drive, Goole, said York was their favourite place to shop and eat out, and they decided to celebrate their anniversary by having a meal at the Bari Italian restaurant, with their two children, on July 4.

"We had a lovely evening - until we returned to the car to find a £30 fine slapped on the windscreen," said Kassie.

"We have parked in the car park for the past 18 or more years and there have never been evening charges.

"We checked the board at the entrance to double check that we were right in thinking there were not evening charges and sure enough, it did not state it was a 24-hour pay and display.

"We had, of course, no reason to check the board at the pay machine as we had never had to pay before and there had been no notice at the entrance to say that anything had changed."

She said they had unsuccessfully appealed to the council, and accused it of cynically making "easy pickings" out of visitors who had no way of knowing the situation had changed since their last trip to York. She said she and her husband had spent hundreds of pounds on parking charges over the years.

Peter Handley said he had never paid an evening charge in the past and was totally unaware of York's new evening charges.

He said: "Scarborough has no charges, and many other cities run free evening parking.

"Our meal cost £35 and our fine £30. Is this fair to a non-York resident who was totally innocent in not paying?"

Coun Ann Reid, executive member for planning and transport, said the city's electronic variable message signs had been used to advertise the evening charges, and there had also been signs warning people in car parks. She said she would check to see if these were still being used. However, different cities had different parking rules, and the onus was on motorists to check at the pay-and-display machines whether they had to pay a charge, and how much.

Updated: 08:26 Thursday, July 22, 2004