YORK Odeon campaigners believe cinema bosses are deliberately driving away customers - by putting the prices up.

Odeon expert Derek Atkins, from The Mount, claimed the decision to bump up ticket fees by 50p to £4.50 from Friday was a tactic to deter people from going to the Blossom Street picture house.

"Already poor programming means the Odeon has missed out on several good films," he claimed.

"Along with the price increase, it seems to me that the company is determined to bring the York Odeon to an end."

But an Odeon spokeswoman has denied that the price increase had anything to do with its possible closure, and claimed the cinema was still cheaper than rivals in the city.

The Evening Press petition to save the York Odeon following a sensitive refurbishment has been signed by nearly 14,000 people and was handed in to Odeon chiefs at their headquarters in London's Leicester Square.

Mr Atkins said: "Whilst periodic price increases at Odeon cinemas are not unusual, I find this particular rise unacceptable. I cannot see how the company can justify such an increase at Blossom Street under the circumstances.

"The company is officially assessing the cinema's economic viability, which implies they are not satisfied with attendance figures at York.

"How on earth can increasing the admission price attract more patrons than the cinema already has?

"Surely, nobody is going to be enthusiastic about paying more to enter a shabby, run-down cinema."

Mr Atkins said, in more than 20 years of studying the Odeon cinema circuit, he had "seen this kind of scenario enacted many times".

Fellow campaigner Tim Addyman told the Evening Press: "I think raising the prices could well be a tactic by the Odeon.

"One of the reasons people go there in the first place is because it's a lot cheaper than the other cinemas in York.

"If they haven't made a decision on its closure yet, it seems a bit stupid to jump the prices up. It could end up finishing it off."

The Odeon spokeswoman said: "Odeon York's prices are in line with the marketplace, and are, in fact, cheaper than the competitor sites Vue and City Screen."

Updated: 10:56 Monday, May 10, 2004