There are fears a town's bus station could close after a major operator announced it would no longer stop there.

Brighton and Hove Buses will stop using the derelict Lewes bus station from September 24 because it is being charged £23,000 a year to use the facility by the landowner.

Managing director Roger French said it was a "ludicrous" waste of money. He added: "It amounts to 15p a passenger on that service.

"I could perhaps understand a charge if it was a super facility but it is not even open. We were paying the money to a property developer for the privilege of stopping next to a derelict building. We don't pay a penny to use any stops in Brighton and Hove or anywhere else."

The number 28 and 29 services, which the company took over from Stagecoach last September, will now stop in School Hill.

Other bus services subsidised by East Sussex County Council will continue to use the station but Lewes MP Norman Baker fears it will inevitably close, leading to passenger inconvenience and traffic congestion.

He said: "I entirely understand why Brighton and Hove Buses has taken the decision it has. The facilities at the bus station are indeed very poor.

"I fear however that the consequences of this decision will be unwelcome ones.

"In the immediate future, this will mean passengers, rather than being able to shelter from traffic while waiting for their bus, will now have to wait on the narrow pavement at the bottom of the High Street, causing congestion both for pedestrians and for motorists, as buses will now inevitably have to sit longer here to take on board passengers.

"It also means the economics of the bus station, already very precarious, will deteriorate further and hasten the day when this will close for good."

He is calling on local authorities to create plans for an alternative bus stopping area before the station closes.