Fans who are desperate for a York City bus parade following the team’s epic promotion on Saturday look set to be denied.
The club was in talks with both City of York Council and North Yorkshire Police about holding the traditional open top bus parade after they were crowned National League champions on Saturday.
That happened in one of the most remarkable matches in history, when York equalised in the 13th minute of added time to take the title – meaning a return to the Football League after a decade away.
But co-owner Julie-Anne Uggla has told the York Press that talks with City of York Council to arrange a parade ended with the club being told the event couldn’t go ahead.
She said she didn’t know if it was a council or a police decision, saying “the reason I have been given is that the police won’t support the parade”.
A North Yorkshire Police spokesperson said: “We’ve received an event management plan for a proposed promotion parade for York City FC.
“Unfortunately, critical elements of the plan are unclear, with a significant lack of detail, and unresolved safety concerns. Given the short timescale, we believe the plan is not fit for purpose for a proposed event tomorrow. As such, we are not able to support it at this stage.
“The club’s promotion is an outstanding achievement, and we want everyone in the city to be able to celebrate it safely. We will continue to work with the club and local partners to help make that possible.”
In a post on social media, City of York Council said: “We’ve been working really hard over the past week, before Saturday’s game, to try to make the parade happen.
“Details of the proposed event came through from the club late last week, and we’ve been part of the group of organisations, including police, ambulance, fire service and others, that gives advice about the safety of events such as this.
“The event plan from the club lacked key details and that raised concerns for this group.
“We’ll continue to work with the club to look at options for what can be done, in line with
the advice of others such as the police.
“The club have indicated they wish to hold an event
at the community stadium on Wednesday evening and we’re already working with them to
support this.”
