Disabled voters have complained about poor access to polling stations.

Two people said ramps provided for wheelchair users in last Thursday's election were several inches too short to reach the door of different voting rooms in Brighton.

Barry North, 58, from Brighton, said: "I drove down to Montpellier Crescent in my electric chair but they said the wrong ramp had been delivered and there was a 4in gap preventing me from getting in.

"In the end I couldn't get in so I had to vote on the pavement."

Mr North said he had already complained about the lack of drop kerbs around the polling station at the previous European elections in 2004 and had been assured the Highways Agency would be asked to make alterations to the kerbs to make it easier for disabled people to vote.

Jennifer Brown Martin, a retired actress from Brighton, said a prefabricated building in Regency Square had the same problem.

She said: "I couldn't get into the square and it was very difficult to get into the hut. There was a ramp but it was 3in short of the step."

Mrs Brown Martin said voting was particularly important to her because her grandmother had been a Suffragette.

She said: "It's absolutely unbelievable and disgraceful. I thought it was illegal not to have proper access."

In the end Mrs Brown Martin, who was in an electric scooter, had to be helped to vote. But she said the ordeal might have been enough to put others off voting altogether.

She said: "Voting is very important and because it only happens once every few years it makes it even worse that they can't get it right."

She experienced similar problems at the last European elections, she added.

A Brighton and Hove City Council spokesman said: "Access ramps were provided at all polling stations. There were problems on these two stations with the ramps fitting flush with the bottom. We apologise for any inconvenience and we'll learn from this in the future."