Parking attendants who have issued a record ticket tally in Brighton and Hove fear a colleague will be killed unless action is taken against violent motorists.

Staff employed on the £3 million city council contract, which is operated by National Car Parks, say not enough is being done to stop the continuing abuse and violence.

Workers who spoke to us claimed they were regularly spat at, intimidated and assaulted. They had even been threatened with knives.

One, who asked not to be named, said: "It is always happening and we are always looking over our shoulders.

"We are doing a job. A lot of people quite like us and understand what we are doing but it is a minority who lose their heads with us. Some of them are persistent offenders.

"Somebody is going to get hurt and nothing is going to happen until somebody ends up in hospital. It is going to take something serious before they sit up and take notice."

The city council said threats and violence against attendants were taken seriously, with every incident logged and serious attacks reported to police.

Attendants, who have already asked to be issued with stab vests, claimed there had been at least four serious incidents involving drivers issued with parking tickets in the last two weeks:

A driver spat at a female parking attendant in Boundary Road, Portslade
Another female attendant was hit on the head and had the parking ticket she had issued rammed down her uniform in West Street, Brighton
Police were called when an attendant was surrounded and manhandled by five people in First Avenue, Hove
A female attendant had to call for help when she was followed by a driver in Sillwood Street, Brighton.

GMB Union organiser Gary Smith said staff were being stopped from working in pairs before 6pm, even in known high-risk areas, so they could cover a wider area.

He said: "The management of health and safety on this contract seems totally inadequate.

"Information about serial assaulters has not been passed on, women have been followed and intimidated and many of the staff have suffered violent attacks.

"We are demanding urgent action before one of our members is killed."

Sussex Police said 15 incidents had been reported since the council took over responsibility for enforcing parking regulations in July 2001.

But Detective Chief Inspector Martin Cheesman said: "This may well be the tip of the iceberg."

Some 206,000 tickets have been issued in the 16 months since the council began its blitz on illegal parking.

More tickets have been issued per square mile in Brighton and Hove than any town or city outside London, according to the National Parking Adjudication Service.

Transport councillor Simon Battle said: "We take any situation where parking attendants feel threatened very seriously and we are working with NCP to address their concerns.

"NCP employs the attendants and they have a robust policy for dealing with events of this kind. Every incident is logged and serious attacks are passed on to the police.

"If the police are unable to act, the NCP will take out a private prosecution."

NCP declined to comment.