Brighton and Hove's ability to host major events is being called into question after the city was brought to a standstill by a charity bike ride.

City leaders fear the resort cannot cope with masses of extra visitors unless its transport problems are solved and key events are better managed.

The annual London to Brighton bike ride attracted more than 27,000 riders to the city on Sunday, with many riders organising vehicles to carry their bicycles back home.

With Madeira Drive on the seafront closed and all other car parks filled early in the morning, the city became one huge car park as vehicles sat on the city's roads for up to four hours, barely moving.

Emergency services struggled to get through the streets and thousands of tourists were stuck in gridlock - many swearing never to return to the city again.

The chaos has been criticised by city leaders and businesses who say Brighton and Hove must be able to cope with staging nationally-recognised events if it is to compete with other cities across the UK.

Simon Fanshawe, chairman of the Brighton and Hove Economic Partnership, said major events such as the annual bike ride were very important economically.

He criticised the transport problems and said: "The trains are largely at fault but we also need park-and-ride."

Mr Fanshawe warned Brighton and Hove's reputation and future prosperity was in danger if the chaos of Sunday's traffic was repeated regularly.

He said: "We have to be very careful. If we do not sort out transport in the city, we will literally drive people away."

He pointed out cities such as Bath, Oxford and Norwich had solved their problems and Brighton and Hove needed to address its issues quickly.

Business groups warned the weekend's traffic gridlock would only get worse as visitor numbers increase with the city's rising popularity.

They say developers of major new tourist attractions have a responsibility to consider the city's congestion problems when drawing up their plans.

Tony Mernagh, executive director of the Brighton and Hove City Centre Business Forum, said proposed schemes at Black Rock and Hove's King Alfred site could attract more than a million visitors a year.

He said: "The developers of the ice arena are working hard to find ways of delivering and removing 11,000 people at any one time to and from the site.

"The developers of the King Alfred are busy addressing the logistics of their site and various design issues and transport questions are still to be debated.

"What both of them will have to start addressing is not how they get people to their respective developments at either end of the seafront but how we get them into the city in the first place.

"The solutions will require improved train services and much better facilities for coaches and park-and-ride on the outskirts of the city and a rapid transit system.

"When it comes to transport all developers need to ask not what the city can do for them but what they can do for the city. Otherwise they can build what they like but people won't be able to come."

The British Heart Foundation ride co-incided with the hottest day of the summer attracting thousands of extra sunseekers into the city.

Ken Bodfish, leader of Brighton and Hove City Council, who took part in the ride, blamed the congestion on the rail firms, which refused to let cyclists return home by train.

The railway companies even hired security guards to prevent cyclists loading their bikes on to trains.

Mr Bodfish said: "The railway companies are failing in their responsibility."

The Cyclists Touring Club also criticised the rail firms for effectively stranding thousands of cyclists in the city.

But a spokesman for the rail company Southern said it would have been impossible to carry all the bikes which had taken part in the event.

He said: "We were at maximum capacity throughout the day. It's very sad that people are pointing the finger at us."