Staff have issued their city council bosses with an election day no-cars ultimatum in a dispute over parking charges.

Union members have voted unanimously to take action if Brighton and Hove City Council won't talk to them by Wednesday.

If there is no meeting, the Brighton and Hove branch of the local government union Unison wants employees to leave their cars at home on the day of the General Election, even if they need them for council business.

Staff are unhappy about the introduction of on-street parking charges in central Hove which mean most workers will have to pay at least £2 a day to park.

The charge will be imposed in July at the same time staff spaces at the Norton Road car park in Hove and at Jubilee Street in Brighton are lost.

A Unison spokesman said: "The council expects workers' cars to be available to deliver services but is charging them to do it.

"This will be an experiment to show how difficult it is for people to get into work without a car and how services will suffer without them.

"The staff are being made to pay for the council's green policy but it is not prepared to meet with us to discuss alternative means of transport.

"Politicians pride themselves on having environmentally sustainable policies to win votes but are not helping their staff to be green."

Unison said staff could hold no-car days once a week until the council takes action.

The union believes the changes will be the equivalent of a £500 pay cut for workers, hitting the lowest-paid the hardest.

The spokesman said: "This will particularly affect carers and parents who don't need their car for work but have to drop off and pick up their children from school. They are normally the lowest paid.

"We are not anti-green. For years we have asked them to sit down with us to sort out a proper transport policy with feasible alternatives to relying on cars but every time they have refused. It is interesting councillors are offered a free parking spot or bus pass but few seem to opt for the bus.

"The council currently issues 1,000 passes entitling workers to free spaces in council run car parks.

Under the new scheme the number of permits will be halved and only given to those who need their car for their job.

Unison wants reimbursement of parking charges for those who cannot get to work by public transport because of where they live and passes issued to others because of personal circumstances.

It has also criticised the criteria used to give out essential car user status, who automatically receive a pass, which does not include staff like home helps.

The spokesman said: "There is one member of staff whose daughter has Downs Syndrome and needs his car to take her to school even though he does not need it for work.

"Circumstances like that should be taken into account."