Cars in the entourage of Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott were slapped with parking tickets for being on double yellow lines.

Mr Prescott - famously dubbed 'Two Jags' - visited Hove this week in the run up to the General Election.

Two Rovers in his party were parked on the corner of Osborne Villas and Church Road as Mr Prescott spoke to traders and shoppers in nearby George Street.

During his speech, Mr Prescott, who is also Environment Secretary, was heckled by a man chanting 'Two Jags' - a reference to his ministerial cars - and surrounded by more than 50 placard-waving protesters.

Meanwhile, PC Jason Strudwick and his colleague PC Shaun Robbins issued the two £30 tickets after spotting the Rovers while on mountain bike patrol PC Strudwick, 31, said: "They were parked on double yellow lines but also on the corner, which was causing an obstruction. I wrote one ticket and my colleague did the other.

"It was only afterwards we saw the Labour party banners in the back we realised the cars were to do with John Prescott.

"I didn't treat anyone any differently. I was only doing my job."

The officers were carrying out their duties as part of a campaign to clamp down on illegal parking in Hove and Shoreham.

The pair were praised by Inspector John Greetham.

He said: "PC Strudwick and his colleague were quite right in issuing the tickets.

"At the moment, Hove police station is enforcing parking regulations in Hove and Shoreham and we are ticketing and towing many vehicles a day without exception.

"There was ample parking provided at the police station which was nearby."

A spokeswoman for Mr Prescott, who was with him on Thursday's visit, said: "He turned up in a bus, walked up George Street and then came back to it. I don't know anything about cars or parking tickets."