Visitors to York will get an early Christmas present this November thanks to a two-day parking offer.

Anyone parking in one of the council's city centre car parks on either Wednesday 21 or Thursday 22 November, will be able to get a reduction of 50p per hour off their parking charge if they pay to park using their mobile phone.

And to help anyone who's not familiar with the new technology, 'helpers' will be on hand in each of the car parks to explain the 'pay by phone' process to first timers.

Russ Broadbent, from the council's parking team, said: "Paying to park by mobile phone has proved enormously successful since we introduced it. It's particularly useful for people who decide they want to stay in the city a bit longer to do a  bit more shopping, or who are stuck in a meeting, because you can pay to top up your parking without having to return to your car. You can even get text reminders when you need to top up your time. We hope that the two-day promotion will encourage even more people to try the system for themselves."

Carolyn Dunn, chief executive of York City Centre Partnership, said: "We`re delighted to work with the council to promote the scheme.   Retailers frequently tell me that they lose sales when customers have to rush back to their cars before their pay-and-display tickets run out. With pay-by-phone, that can be a thing of the past.  We are asking retailers to display posters and hand out leaflets promoting the discount days."

City of York Council was one of the first authorities in the country to introduce the innovative 'Pay by Phone' system in 2005 and later introduced 'Pay by text'.

Under the scheme, which is provided by Verrus, the motorist calls or texts a telephone number. First time users will be asked to enter their mobile phone number, a credit/debit card number and their vehicle registration number. This information is only needed the first time that the system is used, as after that, the system recognises the caller's mobile phone number. They will then be prompted to enter the location number of the car park (which will be displayed at each site) and the duration they wish to park for. The motorist pays a small service charge of 20p when the parking tariff is £2 or above and 10p when the tariff is less than £2, to use the service.

The payment is logged on hand-held computers, which the council's parking attendants will carry, so there is no need for the motorist to have a paper parking ticket. Any vehicles that are not 'logged in' and do not display a valid pay and display ticket, can then be issued with a penalty charge notice.

If requested, users can also receive a text message to remind them when their parking is about to run out. The optional service will be charged at 10p per transaction.