A passport-style identification scheme could be introduced to herald a better deal for West Yorkshire rail travellers at Steeton railway station.

The move is the latest twist in a long running War of the Roses at the station. The car park is being packed out by travellers from North Yorkshire and even Colne in Lancashire wanting to cash in on cheaper fares. Fares from Steeton, which is in West Yorkshire, are reduced for journeys into Leeds and Bradford, causing the influx of people from over the border.

But local park-and-ride passengers have protested that they are unable to find car parking spaces because of the other commuters.

Now travel bosses want to buy extra land from a developer to increase the 80-place car park by an extra 65.

West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Authority (WYPTA) will be asked to approve the sale at its meeting next week, to let contractors in as soon as possible.

WYPTA official John Oxley says officials may have to charge for the car park and would want a system which would be 'more beneficial' to West Yorkshire drivers.

Cllr Eric Dawson, who represents Steeton on Bradford council, has asked the WYPTA to consider a system where people produce their council tax bills to show their addresses.

Mr Oxley says he would consider any scheme which could work. "I don't want to turn any passengers away but we would want to make it as beneficial as possible to West Yorkshire users," he pledges.

Cllr Dawson, a member of the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Consultative Committee, says: "I have said all along that there would have to be some differentiation. It would need to be a passport-type scheme."

The row has erupted because the WYPTA spends millions of pounds subsidising rail travel in the area and North Yorkshire has so far refused to pay a penny.

Mr Oxley says officials would have to consider the management system of the extended car park and would look at a charging or permit system.

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