Motorists are complaining of 24-hour parking patrols after the issuing of a series of late night tickets.

Drivers claim councils across Sussex are increasingly sending out civil enforcement officers in the middle of the night to catch them out.

Critics have said the system of 24-hour patrols is a case of local authorities trying to find new ways to increase revenue.

Norman Baker, the MP for Lewes and the Liberal Democrat transport spokesman, said: "It smacks of desperation, with town halls needing to raise as much money as possible overcoming common sense."

While motoring organisations accept cars which are causing an obstruction should be moved, there is growing anger at the penalising of drivers for minor infringements.

But the decision to crackdown on illegal parking overnight was defended by the Local Government Association.

And a spokesman for NSL, which operates on-street patrols in Lewes and Eastbourne, said that because some parking restrictions were in force 24 hours a day it was likely officers would be on duty “whenever they are in operation”.