Council leader Sheila Player has said she was right to threaten an opposition councillor with being "removed" from a meeting.

Five Conservative Worthing councillors marched out of an executive meeting when Councillor Player told Conservative councillor Keith Mercer he would be taken out of the meeting if he persisted in questioning a decision made on parking enforcement in the town.

After voting on the matter, the executive had moved on to the next item on the agenda but Coun Mercer wanted to discuss it further.

Within seconds of being threatened with removal, Coun Mercer said: "This is so undemocratic" before he and fellow Tory councillors John Livermore, Reg Green, Peter Welch and Paul High stormed out of the room.

Coun Player insisted she would do the same to one of her own party, the Liberal Democrats, if they were being disruptive.

She said: "I opened the debate fully and allowed all members to speak for some considerable time with some latitude because they were not talking specifically about the agenda item.

"The executive voted on it. I had missed Coun Mercer for comment so I gave him a little latitude but when I tried to shut him up he started talking over the top of me.

"The rules are once an item has gone to vote, you move on. Coun Mercer would not stop and that's disorderly conduct.

"I told him in no uncertain terms he would be removed and that would have applied to any of my party's members if they did the same."

Coun Livermore slammed the threat as outrageous and Coun Mercer said he had never seen a chairman behave in such a manner.