In depth: Why we're parking mad

Who can park where, what permits are needed, how much they will cost and the fines for parking in the wrong place are the questions people want answers to.

Residents, who until now have enjoyed a parking free-for-all, fear the new regulations will bring chaos.

The thought of a 70-strong force of attendants patrolling city streets, handing out £60 fines to dangerous and illegally-parked vehicles, makes them even more worried.

Sally Morton, of Shirley Street, Hove, said: "We are furious. There is not a problem parking here in the daytime. The only time it is crowded is in the evening when people get home from work.

"I have applied for a permit but I have not received one and it is supposed to start on Monday. In effect, it will become illegal for me to park outside my house. A lot of people in the streets around where I live did not want this scheme but the council has steamrolled it through anyway.

"It is not being done for the residents. It is purely making money for the council."

Builder Bob Howitt, of Wilbury Grove, said: "I applied for my permit three weeks ago but I have still not received it.

"The council said it was processing it.

"When I asked what happened if I still had not received it on Monday, it said it did not know, suggesting I put a note on my windscreen saying I had applied for a permit."

The new Central Hove Zone N stretches from Hove station to the seafront and is bounded by Hove Street in the west and St John's Road and Salisbury Road in the east.

From Monday, every car parked on the street within this area will have to display either a residents parking permit, a businesses permit, a pay-and-display ticket or a disabled sticker. The scheme will operate until 8pm.

Electronics engineer Dave Fox, who works for Sunderland Electronics in Western Road, claimed no provision had been made for tradesmen making calls in Hove.

He said: "In Brunswick, where they already have permit parking, there are lots of empty roads where people have taken their cars to work.

"If we park in them because we are working, we face being fined or having to use the pay- and-display bays. That increases our overheads and the costs ultimately have to be passed on to customers.

"It is the same for other businesses and could affect our livelihoods and eventually force people to relocate to where parking is free."

Keith Bryden, chairman of Hove Business Association, said he and other traders had still not received their permits.

Mr Bryden said: "In my case, and others, they have sent our forms back asking for documentary proof that we are in business in Hove.

"That's ridiculous when you consider that we pay business rates and all they have to do is look at their own records."

However, there are supporters of the new regime, including many elderly or disabled people and parents with push chairs who are tired of struggling past illegally- parked vehicles which block pavements and access ramps.

Brighton and Hove Bus and Coach Company boss Roger French is another supporter of the scheme, hoping it will help stop buses being delayed by illegally-parked cars.

Val Richards, of the Federation of Disabled People, said: "At the moment people often cannot get up and down the pavements because of cars left across the special drop curbs which are supposed to make it easier.

"Parking is such a huge issue and finally someone is doing something about it. Hopefully, this will make life easier for the people with disabilities who live in this city."

Resident permit and voucher parking schemes in central Brighton, Kemp Town and Brunswick, Hove, have been put in place during the past few years with varying degrees of success.

A Hove resident's permit will cost £80 a year, discounted to £52 for the first year. Only about 4,000 will be available and permits will be limited to one per household.

Businesses will be allowed two permits, no matter how large or small the company, at a cost of £160 per year. Applicants will have to prove the permits is essential to their business.

Special permits will be provided for hotel guests.

Residents will be able to purchase temporary permits for their visitors at a cost of £1 a day. Each permit holder will be allowed up to 52 visitors a year.

Pay-and-display provision will consist of 1,115 short-term spaces near to shopping areas and long-term spaces near the seafront.

Short-term parking will cost £1 for up to two hours or 10p for half an hour. Long-term parking will cost £2 for up to 10 hours.

Those who break the rules will be fined a minimum of £60.

The company policing the streets on behalf of the council will be car park giant NCP, which was awarded the £2.3 million contract in February.

It has cost about £2 million to transfer responsibility for parking from the police but the council hopes to recoup this during its first five years.

Seventy wardens will patrol the streets until midnight, including Sundays.

The voucher and residents parking scheme in central Brighton is to be extended until 7pm each day, including Sundays.

Parking revenue will go directly to the council, instead of the Government. The amount raised is expected to approach £5 million a year in a few years' time.

Parking information offices will open at Hove Town Hall, Church Road, and in North Road, Brighton, to sell permits and accept payment of fines.

Cars parked illegally on double-yellow lines, on pavements, at bus stops and in bus lanes causing problems for pedestrians, cyclists, buses and emergency vehicles are among the issues the scheme is designed to stop.

Those who are unable to find a legal space to park in, or who are still waiting for a resident's permit, will be fined - despite acknowledgement by the council there will never be enough spaces.

Residents of more established parking schemes are worried about the new enforcement regime.

Stephen Percy lives in Westhill, which is covered by the central Brighton scheme.

He said: "I have only just realised the full impact of what is going to happen and I think a lot of people are going to have a nasty shock on Monday.

"I fully agree the city needs to be kept moving but they have overlooked the amount of people who have to park illegally every evening because there is simply nowhere else to put their cars.

"I have a residents' permit but drive off every morning to go to work and by the time I come home all the spaces are full so I have to park where I can, which sometimes means on a double-yellow line.

"With traffic wardens working until midnight every night, in theory I could get several tickets while I'm asleep in bed. It is draconian.

"We can't all leave Brighton and park somewhere else every night because this is where we live."

Peter Hollet, director of Brighton and Hove City Cabs, said his drivers had already encountered several problems.

He said: "I have been on the phone trying to get through to the council's information line for two days now and it has been constantly engaged.

"One of our drivers was given a ticket trying to pick up a disabled child in a minibus full of kids, which was clearly marked with disabled badges.

"Another attendant gave a ticket to a driver who had a passenger half in and half out of the cab as he was dropping her off.

"He was told it was because the back end of the taxi was part way over a disabled space.

"The traffic wardens seem over-zealous. The council promised us firm but fair, but this is fanatical."

Proposals for a fifth controlled parking scheme in the Goldsmid area of Hove were abandoned after residents consulted by the council rejected the idea.

Ken Bodfish, leader of Brighton and Hove City Council, said: "Cars are a convenience, not a necessary way of getting about.

"Widespread illegal parking has become a huge headache.

"Many drivers ignore restrictions and simply park wherever they like, regardless of the impact on others.

"We promise firm but fair enforcement and will crack down on the minority of selfish parkers who cause misery for so many others.

"We will encourage more considerate parking and free up some space for all road users."

Councillor Brian Oxley, Tory group leader on the council, said: "It is just chaotic. Already we are seeing the new pay-and- display meters being vandalised.

"This council seems to have a policy of consult and ignore, because it has taken no notice of what people wanted."

Council spokeswoman Diana Barnet said: "The reason we have done this is because of mounting concern about illegal and dangerous parking and growing traffic congestion.

"We have been working on it for a number of years and have carried out reams of public consultation. We are confident it will provide huge benefits in terms of road safety and congestion and get Brighton and Hove moving again.

"It has cost a lot to set up but now we have decriminalised parking it is a self-funding scheme. If there are any profits, and we hope there will be some, that money will be put into traffic schemes.

"Demand for parking spaces in the city is greater than ever before as car ownership has increased. We cannot make everybody happy."

There are 21 off-street car parks in Brighton and Hove, providing 5,633 parking spaces as well as thousands of on-street pay-and-display and voucher spaces.

Ms Barnet said the changes would make life easier for pedestrians, cyclists, bus drivers and passengers, disabled people and parents pushing prams, as cars which blocked roads and pavements would be towed away.

She said: "Improved enforcement should mean a greater turnover of parking spaces so everyone should find it easier to find a space."

She said the new central Hove scheme would make it easier for shoppers to park legally near shops while long-term spaces on the seafront would encourage tourists.

The council has promised its new parking enforcers will not be paid commission on the number of tickets they give.