A graffiti-style advert on a train is to be painted over after fears it could encourage vandalism.

The 12-carriage train is used between Brighton and London but owner South Central is embarrassed by its appearance.

The advert, promoting the services of the train's former owner, includes yellow paint with red and green blotches and spray-style lettering along the bottom of each carriage.

The design has provoked complaints from some passengers, who have said it is too garish and too much like graffiti.

South Central expects to spend about £3 million this year cleaning graffiti from its carriages and has encouraged people to report vandals.

The firm inherited the train and its advert from Connex South Central when it took over the franchise in 2002.

Spokesman Marsid Greenidge said the company wanted to get rid of the design as soon as it could.

He said: "We prefer all of our stock to have the green South Central livery so we will be respraying the train when we can. It does not fit in with the image we want to present.

"The only difficulty is finding the right time to do it because it will mean having to take the train out of service for a while."

Regular passenger John Stanaway, of Lorna Road, Hove, said he thought the train looked "tatty" when he first saw it.

He said: "I like interesting designs but this one did not seem to work. It just came across as poor quality advertising.

"There is an ongoing campaign to clear the railways, bridges and trains from graffiti, which I fully support, and this type of image does not help."

The Argus's Tell On Taggers campaign urges people to report known taggers who spray graffiti around Brighton and Hove.

British Transport Police have identified two groups of taggers thought to be targeting train services in Sussex.

The first gang mainly uses the "NT" tag, which has been found on the line between Gatwick and Brighton.

The second gang mainly uses the "DMC" tag and is based around Worthing.