Parking permits are being sold to desperate motorists for twice the original price on a thriving black market, it emerged yesterday.

People living in Brighton and Hove have been selling their visitors' vouchers in small ad magazines.

Now the council is threatening legal action against anyone using or selling the permits.

Anyone living within the city can buy up to 50 vouchers if they show two proofs of identification and address.

The vouchers allowing people to park all day are supposed to be for genuine visitors of people living in the city.

In one magazine a man is offering purchasers 24-hour permits in Zone N in central Hove for £2 each.

When the Argus called the number the man said he had 44 vouchers left and they were selling quickly.

The permits are not assigned to a vehicle registration plate and it is difficult for parking attendants to check the permit user is genuine.

People living in zone N pay £80 a year or £25 for three months but are not guaranteed a space.

Steve Percy, of the lobby group People's Parking Protest, said: "The council have known about this problem for a long time but do not know how to deal with it.

"The problem is only going to get worse when people realise they can make money out of it.

"The only solution is to have the car registration printed on the visitors' permits.

"But this would be very difficult because it would mean knowing the number plate of all your guests in advance."

The Argus has previously reported how people were selling their visitors' vouchers on the online auction site eBay.

The council could lose thousands of pounds a year if the black market in parking vouchers continues to thrive.

Even though those who buy the vouchers from magazines are paying over the odds, it is still cheaper than buying tickets from parking meters.

On-street parking in some parts of the city costs up to £16 per day.

Brighton and Hove City Council said those caught selling tickets on the black market could be banned from buying visitors' vouchers.

The authority is also looking into the legality of selling them and whether people could be prosecuted.

Press officer Brian Walsh said: "This issue has occasionally cropped up before and is obviously not something we would encourage.

"Visitor tickets are sold to residents precisely so that visitors can visit them, and we can track the tickets down through the numbering system if problems crop up.

"If we find people are misusing the system we could withdraw their use of this facility.

"We would not rule out legal action if we felt the scale of the problem justified it."