A builder was fuming after finding new Parking regulations had appeared round his car which had been legally parked.

Roger McArthur was even more dismayed to discover a parking attendant on the verge of issuing him a ticket moments after the regulations came into force.

Mr McArthur had parked in a two-hour bay in Montpelier Crescent, near Seven Dials, Brighton, while he went to work on a property but when he returned within an hour he found a new sign had been put up, turning the bay into residents-only parking.

A parking attendant was about to hand out a ticket until he pleaded with her to wait.

Mr McArthur said: "I had parked legally yet within an hour the signs had been changed and suddenly I was illegally parked. Talk about changing the goalposts.

"I explained this to the warden, who phoned her office who told her to wait until the morning before issuing tickets."

Mr McArthur is one of the leaders of Traders Against Parking Persecution, which is behind the white van convoy protests that have brought Brighton and Hove city centre to a halt in protest against new parking restrictions.

A spokeswoman for Brighton and Hove City Council accepted that anyone who was given a parking ticket because the signs have suddenly been changed was "unlucky".

She said: "The changes come into operation this week alongside the introduction of the Goldsmid parking scheme. They have been introduced through an 18-month experimental traffic order, so residents and businesses in the area will have the opportunity to make comments on the proposals during this period."