Council chiefs are refusing to cancel a parking ticket slapped on a paralysed woman's car - after her husband had just used a wheelchair to get her out of the vehicle.

Ann Knight suffers from motor neurone disease and is totally disabled but was given the £30 fine because her disabled parking badge was the wrong way round on the dashboard of her converted car.

Parking officials in Brighton and Hove have now been slammed as bullying and soulless by her angry husband Howard, who had just wheeled Ann, 60, into a seafront hotel and was checking in when the warden pounced.

He said: "I pulled into a bay outside the Metropole and I got Ann out of the car and wheeled her inside, where we had to wait ten minutes to check in because the reception desk was busy.

"I was horrified to find when I went out to move our van that an overzealous warden had slapped a £30 ticket on the windscreen. It is absolutely appalling and heartless - the vehicle is obviously modified for a wheelchair user and there was a valid blue badge on the dashboard."

Mr Knight, who lives near Sudbury, Suffolk, wrote to Brighton and Hove City Council's parking services department but was told bluntly: "You got a ticket because the blue badge was displayed upside down."

A council spokeswoman said: "Blue badge holders should be aware of the correct way to display their badges, so that the number and expiry date can be clearly read. In this case the badge was displayed incorrectly and a parking ticket was given. We received a letter of complaint from Mr Knight but no evidence that the badge was valid.

"We have written to Mr Knight explaining the reasons why the ticket was issued and given information about how to appeal."

The Argus reported on Monday that disabled Ann Teare, 84, of Newick Green, near Lewes, was stunned to receive a £30 parking fine for displaying her badge upside down near Barretts Jewellers in Lewes High Street.

Mrs Teare appealed against the fine and yesterday Matthew Lock, East Sussex County Council's cabinet member for transport and environment, agreed to cancel the ticket.

He said: "We will waive the fee as a gesture of goodwill. At the same time I would strongly urge disabled motorists to be very careful about how they display their badges because they run the risk of being issued with a ticket if the badge cannot be read."

Is it right to penalise people for displaying their badges the wrong way round? Should wardens use more common sense? Tell us your thoughts below