An attempt to simplify confusing Parking signs has left motorists and traffic wardens even more perplexed.

Steve Percy, of the Brighton-based People's Parking Protest campaign group, claims the new signs are so unintelligible that some parking attendants have refused to give out tickets because they are not sure if drivers are flouting the rules.

The signs were installed at a cost of £4,000 in areas such as St Nicholas Road and Buckingham Street, Brighton to make the parking system clearer.

Previously, many motorists who had resident parking permits were unaware they were able to park in voucher parking bays in central Brighton at certain times on certain days.

Brighton and Hove City Council asked for help from the Government's transport department and came up with the new signs, which displayed additional information about when people could and could not park there.

But the new signs have left drivers unclear how long they can actually park in certain bays for.

There is even more confusion as on certain signs an additional piece of metal has been put at right angles saying: "Resident permit holders only 9am to 7pm". Nobody knows to which day it applies.

Mr Percy said: "The problem is the word Saturday as there are no hours stipulated. If it said all day Saturday it would be clearer, but the sign should really say all day Saturday and Sunday until 10am on Monday.

"It seems incredible that the council can put in road humps and chicanes then fail to put up clearer signs.

"The council should have made the changes when we suggested it two years ago, now it may be a waste of money as there are plans to change the voucher parking system in Brighton to ticket machines."

Taxi driver Mark O'Hara, 42, of Buckingham Street, is one of those who has been fighting for clearer signs.

He said: "I only discovered by chance regulations allowed me to park on voucher bays for an hour in the mornings and evenings and all day Saturday.

"I was given a ticket for parking outside my house on a Saturday with a valid resident's parking permit but I was only able to get off it because I had discovered the regulations."

A spokesman for the city council defended the new signs, saying: "They have a significant amount of wording and are a lot larger than the ordinary ones.

"Before we could install them we had to seek approval from the Department for Transport and this was gained relatively recently."

The signs will have to change again when plans to switch the voucher parking system to pay and display come into effect in autumn next year.