A woman was forced to push her elderly wheelchair-bound mother up a steep hill to reclaim her car after it was towed away by parking attendants.

Jennifer Fiander, 54, is boycotting Brighton city centre and demanding an apology from Brighton and Hove City Council.

The incident left her and her 94-year-old mother, Ivy Stevenson, in tears.

Mrs Fiander, of Haywards Heath Road, North Chailey, parked her Mitsubishi - which has a disabled permit - on double yellow lines in West Street, Brighton, on April 29, after telephoning police to get permission.

The four disabled bays allocated to West Street were already occupied, two by cars without permits.

When she and Mrs Stevenson, a grandmother of 13 and great-grandmother of three, returned hours later, the car had disappeared.

Mrs Fiander said: "I looked at where the car should have been and it wasn't there.

"I did a double take and my first thought was that it had been stolen.

"As we stood there, two shop assistants saw we were distressed and came and told us it had been towed away."

When she telephoned the council, Mrs Fiander was told the car had been moved to a compound in Upper North Street, Brighton.

She was told she would have to wheel her mother up the hill to collect it.

When they arrived they found the car parked outside a private house with a £60 fine slapped on the windscreen but no sign of a compound.

Mrs Fiander said: "By the time I got there I was crying my eyes out and I was tired from pushing mum in her wheelchair.

"It isn't easy at the best of times but going up this hill was especially hard.

"Mum was beginning to get upset because she could see I was getting extremely stressed out.

"We had to get home so she could take her arthritis medication."

Mrs Fiander said she has parked in the same spot in the past without being ticketed and is prepared to go to court to have the fine lifted.

She said: "If that had been a disabled person on their own or two elderly people, how would they have coped?

"Where is the logic in putting a disabled person's car at the top of a steep hill? It is unbelievable.

"First of all I want an apology and then the council needs to ensure this doesn't happen again.

"It has put me off going to Brighton. It's not easy to park at the best of times but now this has happened I won't be back for a while."

A council spokeswoman said: "West Street is one of the busiest roads in the city centre and the vehicle was moved because it was causing an obstruction for other traffic.

"The car was parked on a stretch of road which has a no loading' ban.

"Disabled badge holders are not permitted to park where such a ban is in force.

"This is clearly set out in information supplied to drivers who are issued with a disabled badge.

"The car was removed to the nearest safe location."