Orange stickers will no longer be slapped on Brighton's abandoned vehicles because thieves have been using them for practise.

Brighton and Hove City Council workers usually place the stickers on cars if they believe they have been abandoned.

Owners then have seven days to contact the authority otherwise their vehicles towed away and scrapped.

But police officers say the stickers have been acting as homing beacons to criminals wanting to practise breaking into vehicles without officers being called.

Sergeant Tony Lumb told a meeting of the crime prevention forum on the Whitehawk Estate in Brighton: "We are getting rid of the big orange stickers and redesigning them so they are not as visible. Criminals were using them to practise stealing cars."

Sgt Lumb said residents were less likely to call police if they spotted criminals breaking into abandoned cars which did not appear to belong to anyone.

He added the problem was city-wide as more and more people were dumping cars instead of taking them to a scrapyard.

Last week we reported how DVLA officers caught 180 car tax dodgers in one day in Whitehawk, a national record.

In a five-day operation covering east Brighton, more than 500 motorists were reported for having untaxed vehicles.

The team slapped tickets on untaxed vehicles which could lead to fines of up to £1,000 while 57 unregistered cars were towed away and crushed.

A spokesman for Brighton and Hove City Council said: "It sounds very sensible and we'll be watching it with interest.

"If it works, the council will follow suit across the city.

"However, new Government rules coming in later in the year will reduce the seven-day notice period to 24 hours. That should drastically reduce the problem anyway."