RAIL chiefs have denied claims they are planning to ban trainspotters from York station.

The Transport Salaried Staffs Association said its officials were told at a meeting that the ban was being planned by National Express East Coast under moves to crack down on fare dodgers. National Express has strongly denied the claim and said platform passes will be issued to trainspotters.

But the union insisted the move was being planned, adding that it would end a 170-year tradition of one of the industry's most “enduring and iconic traditions”.

“Only people with no sense of history would commit such an act of mindless vandalism,” said the union’s general secretary, Gerry Doherty.