THEY pay more than £200 for the privilege of parking their cars near their home.

Charlie and Margaret Hodge's money goes towards a City of York Council Res Park scheme, intended to stop non-residents parking in the street.

But because of a loophole in the rules, motorbikes are not barred in the same way as cars. And the Hodges say that a woman has frequently been leaving her motorcycle all day near their home in Scarcroft Road - leaving them having to park several streets away.

Mr Hodge said he asked the woman, who works at a nearby shop, to park somewhere else, such as the nearby Bishopthorpe Road car park, where she could still park for free.

"But she said she had spoken to City of York Council and been told she is entitled to park here and intends carrying on doing so. It has been happening three or four times a week."

Mrs Hodge said: "We pay £84 for the first car and £127 for the second. We need both our cars for our work. I have some equipment which I need to put in and take out of my car but I often end up having to park three or four streets away."

She added that parking attendants were rarely seen in the area, leaving many ordinary motorists parking their cars much longer than the maximum permitted ten minutes.

A council spokeswoman said today that for practical reasons, motorcycles had never been required to hold a permit to park in a Res Park area.

"This is based purely on practicality, because there is no physical place on a motorcycle where a permit could be securely displayed so it would be both readily visible to a patrolling attendant and where it could not be stolen," she said. "The risk of a permit being stolen is high, as the first permit a household is issued with is not vehicle specific and could be used by a thief or sold on for further use."

But Mr Hodge said the council should work to overcome any technical difficulties. "Motorbike permits could be issued with registration numbers on them, so they would of no use to anyone else," he said.

The council spokeswoman said parking attendants regularly patrolled Scarcroft Road and that a total of 139 Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) had been issued in the street this year.