Shop tenants in a Brighton street are locked in a battle to keep traffic wardens off a strip of land which they say is private.

Sheriden O'Connell was furious when two of her cars were given parking tickets outside Sundials Tanning Studio in Dyke Road.

Miss O'Connell, 30, said she rented the land, where there is space for four cars, as part of the £10,000-a-year lease on the shop.

However, officials at Brighton and Hove City Council maintained there was no private land at any property between 108 and 124 Dyke Road.

Miss O'Connell said: "I am just totally disappointed and despairing. My customers park there and if one of them was to receive a ticket it would be awful.

"I have the lease on the shop and I have a plan on the lease which outlines the back of the shop where I park as being part of the lease.

"Both of the cars are registered to me and the business and I am very annoyed."

Miss O'Connell, 30, said even if she had been parking on the public highway the traffic warden had given her no time to explain.

"I have a seven-month- old baby and it takes time getting stuff out of the car. On the ticket they gave me just two minutes from 9.29am to 9.31am.

"It is certainly not part of the public highway. The council doesn't know what it is saying."

The shop manager Tony Pinnell, 48, was so incensed to get a ticket he is determined to appeal.

He said: "I think it is overzealous and I think it is quite disgusting. I was ready to go berserk.

"The warden actually had to walk across our land to put the tickets on there, which is trespass."

Mr Pinnell said he had nothing against wardens giving out tickets to prevent traffic jams in the city centre but he objected to being ticketed when he was parked off the road.

He said: "The big issue here is he was trespassing on my land to give me a ticket and I don't see why I should have to put up with this aggravation.

"I am quite angry. The ticket says I was causing an obstruction and if I was parked on the road then fair enough but this is nothing to do with them.

"I quite agree with wardens in the city centre. They were employed to keep the traffic flowing and make sure there are no obstructions for emergency vehicles but this takes the biscuit."

A spokeswoman for Brighton and Hove City Council said a map in their parking services department showed the land was part of the public highway.

She said: "There are no private forecourts along there. Therefore all the space in front of the shops is public highway.

"From what we can tell from this, he is parking on the public highway.

"If he appeals he will not have to pay anything until the appeal has been dealt with and if he does feel the ticket has been received unjustly, then that is the course of action he should take."