Brighton and Hove council is being forced to change all its voucher bay Parking signs because they give incorrect information.

Residents have been denied hundreds of parking spaces because of the blunder and attendants may also have incorrectly issued tickets.

The city council is now being forced to spend £4,000 on 100 new signs which give the correct details for the central Brighton voucher bays.

But the new signs face delays as the wording needs to be approved.

The changes are the latest saga in the complicated traffic regulations in Brighton and Hove where there are different rules for different areas.

A resident with the correct parking permit for his area discovered by chance he was allowed to park in voucher bays near his home from 9am to 10am and from 5pm to 6pm.

The surprised resident alerted central Brighton parking campaigner Steve Percy, who has set up the People's Parking Protest.

He said: "I had no idea people with residents' parking permits had the right to park in the voucher bays for one hour in the morning and an hour at night.

"I don't think many other residents who have paid for their residents' parking permits are aware either.

"There must also be some parking attendants who are not aware of these rules.

"We are campaigning for more consistency in the parking regulations and this just shows the regulations need clarifying. The council should issue a simple guide to parking regulations"

A spokeswoman for the council admitted it knew it was not properly displaying the correct information.

She said: "When we took control of parking enforcement last year, our advisers agreed a concession that residents with permits should be allowed to park in the area for which the permit is issued for an hour in the morning and an hour at night.

"The voucher bays do not give this information and we shall be replacing all signs in central Brighton to show the correct information.

"Because there is so much information to be put on the signs, the wording detailing the voucher parking and when residents can park will have to be agreed by the Government."

City transport councillor Simon Battle said: "There is a need to standardise the parking regulations in Brighton and Hove and we are working towards this."