It is a year since council parking attendants took over from traffic wardens in Brighton and Hove.

Since July 2001, there has been a significant change in parking habits. Motorists parking on a double-yellow line or a bus stop would be likely to get away with it.

Not any more. Attendants have issued more than 139,000 penalty charge notices in the past year.

More than 2,500 vehicles have been towed away and 2,600 penalties have been issued for parking on bus stops alone.

The venture has been met with a mixed reaction.

Some say the streets are now clearer and it is easier to park. Others are furious at the cost and hard line taken by attendants.

There were inevitable teething troubles when the project began.

Attendants were so busy that introducing new parking controls in central Hove had to be postponed until August.

Since the changeover there have been constant complaints that attendants have been overzealous or unfair.

Sometimes they have had to tear up the tickets but, in the vast majority of cases, penalties have been accepted.

One of the biggest protests has been from traders who feel the charge of £3 for waivers - allowing them to park on yellow lines while carrying out essential work - is unfair.

But there is no doubt illegal parking has been reduced and traffic is running more freely.

Transport councillor Simon Battle said: "Although it was initially very controversial, I think it is providing real benefits.

"It has made it easier for people to park near their homes and it helps to keep traffic moving. The policy has met its objectives and has benefited law-abiding motorists.

"I think we have got it about right. We have as many people saying it is being too lightly enforced as those who say the enforcement is too much."

When the scheme began to make a profit, it should be possible to plough money back into transport and traffic improvements.

Tory environment spokeswoman Pat Drake said: "On the whole it has worked pretty well.

"They are on the right lines and in some areas people want it extended.

"The streets are much better and you sometimes wonder where all the cars have gone. People can also do short-stay parking at little cost."

The changeover has been welcomed by Paul Williams, operations manager for Brighton and Hove Bus and Coach Company.

He said: "There has been as unprecedented improvement in parking enforcement.

"Bus stops which at one time were regularly blocked are clear most of the time."

City centre manager Tony Mernagh said: "There has definitely been an improvement.

"One or two areas need attention but the council is aware of that and is working on them."

Liberal Democrat councillor Paul Elgood represents the Brunswick and Adelaide ward, where a parking control scheme was introduced last year.

He said: "In a year, 500 residents have contacted me with complaints about parking and the scheme. It has kept me extremely busy trying to make improvements."

Chris Naish, who has run a garage in Brunswick Street East, Hove, for 23 years, has collected more than 70 parking tickets in the past year.

He has room for only one vehicle off the road at his mews headquarters and deals with six or seven cars daily.

Many of them are ticketed by attendants and sometimes their owners receive stiff letters while he is appealing.

Mr Naish said a garage had been on the site since 1910 yet attendants and the council paid no attention to that.

The council has now started a review that is likely to recommend some minor improvements to the system.

More changes are likely in the year ahead. Brighton and Hove has been chosen as a pilot authority for enforcing the free flow of buses in their lanes.

It is also likely there will be new controlled parking zones, especially in Hove.

l Brighton and Hove City Council is not yet making money out of controlled parking.

Taking charge of it cost £2.5 million to set up and the service costs £3 million a year to run.

If it does make money, the profit has, by law, to be ploughed back into transport.

Full figures are not yet available on the first year of operation but the council has issued more than 139,000 tickets.

Most people pay the penalty in time which amounts to £30 but about a third do not and the fee is then doubled.