A disabled driver has complained able-bodied motorist are abusing the disabled parking system.

Sylvia Merris-McDonald says disabled parking spaces in Brighton and Hove are being used up by people cheating the blue badge system.

The 59-year-old journalist confronted one man in his 40s when she saw him pull up in a disabled space then hop energetically out of his vehicle.

She managed to turn over the disabled badge in the windscreen, to find it belonged to a woman. The man was alone in the car.

Mrs Merris-McDonald finds it difficult to walk a long way so cannot use a car park. She said: "You often get a disabled badge because you have difficulty walking further than 50 metres. At the moment I am even struggling with that because I have got a knee that needs replacing.

"If I can't park and I can't walk, what am I supposed to do?

"It is an abuse of the system. Something should be done. I think it is people trying to get out of paying."

Mrs Merris-McDonald, who lives in Rottingdean High Street, often parks in the disabled bays in Western Road, Brighton.

When she spotted a man who clearly did not have a disability, she decided to speak out.

She said: "When I saw this guy jump out of the car I was astounded. He looked at my face and decided it wasn't worth tackling me. He could see I was furious.

"He wasn't an old man. Things have changed a lot these days. You can't be picky about everything that goes on but this one is a serious issue.

"We have got so many people coming into Brighton and a lot of them drive in. It isn't convenient for some disabled people to come in by train."

At the moment Mrs Merris-McDonald is taking medication for a rare kind of cancer so is unable to drive.

But disabled badge holders who cannot drive themselves are able to use their badges if someone else drives. Badges have a photograph of the owner on the reverse.

Disabled badge holders can park with a badge and a time voucher displayed for up to three hours on a single or double yellow line so long as there are no loading restrictions.

They can also park without time limit in a pay and display bay, voucher bay or a designated disabled bay.

A council spokesman said anyone suspected of abusing the system should be reported to the council, which would investigate.

He said: "All badges have the photograph of the badge holder but it is on the reverse. The badge holder does not have to be the driver and the driver can use the badge as long as the person who owns the badge is in the vehicle."

To contact the parking team call 01273 293225 (Brighton) or 01273 292426 (Hove).