Four out of five people who take their challenge against Parking tickets to the top are winning their cases.

New figures from National Parking Adjudication Service (NPAS), the final board of appeal for motorists who believe tickets have been unfairly issued, put Brighton and Hove in the top five nationally for the number of successful complaints.

Figures released by the city council reveal about 40 per cent of the 15,000 drivers who appeal penalty notices each year are getting them quashed immediately.

Those who fail have the option to take their case on to the NPAS.

In a new report, the board says of the 31 who went all the way in the year ending April 2002, 24 were successful. In 16 cases, the city council did not put up a defence.

Birmingham, Dartford, Southend-on-Sea and Trafford were the only authorities with higher rates of appeal success.

Since NCP took over control of parking in the city's streets, its wardens have become among the most prolific issuers of parking tickets in the country, handing out 160,000 a year - an average of 440 a day.

A spokeswoman for Brighton and Hove said the low figure of appeals showed the vast majority of tickets were being issued fairly.

She said: "We try to be fair and scrutinise every single challenged ticket. When our attendants issue a ticket they take a photograph as well and when motorists are presented with the photographic evidence, they usually pay up."

In Hastings, the only other town Sussex town signed up to NPAS, a total of 46,059 tickets were issued between April 2001 and April 2002 with 53 motorists contesting, of which 35 (66 per cent) were allowed.

A spokeswoman for NPAS said: "The number of appeals allowed against a particular council does not mean necessarily, in every case, the parking attendant was wrong to issue the penalty charge notice.

"Many appeals are allowed because of a defect in the council administrative process or because a particular piece of evidence, needed to establish that a parking contravention occurred, had not been submitted."

She said the high rate of success of Brighton and Hove motorists who took appeals to NPAS showed they were well prepared.