A care worker had to walk more than three miles home in the dark after her car was towed away by traffic wardens.

Jeanette Thompson, of Brighton, was helping an elderly couple into bed at their home in Upper Drive, Hove, when her car was removed by parking attendants.

The couple gave her permission to use the disabled space outside their home and she displayed a carers' badge in the car window.

But when she had finished with the disabled couple, she found her car had gone.

She said: "I thought it had been stolen. I had two more people to visit before the end of my rounds which I could not get to without the car.

"I had no money with me for the bus so I walked to Brighton police station in John Street to report the car stolen.

"When I got there, they told me it had been towed away and taken to the pound."

After visiting the station, Mrs Thompson walked all the way home to her home in Whitehawk, Brighton, where she telephoned the pound.

She said: "The woman who answered the phone told me if I wanted my car back I would have to pay £115 and an extra £15 for every day they kept it there."

Mrs Thompson's boss, Ann Hallifax, of Hallifax Care, said the carers' badges used to be recognised by the former police traffic wardens but there had been a lot of problems since council contractors NCP took over the service in July.

Mrs Hallifax protested: "We have had big problems since the new regime took over.

"This is the first time a car has been towed away but carers all over town are collecting parking tickets.

"There are hundreds of carers putting thousands of people to bed every night across Brighton and Hove and looking after them during the day. We are told they should do their work on foot but it is just not always possible."

A city council spokesman said carers' badges were recognised by the new regime but did not entitle carers to use disabled spaces.

She said: "They are allowed to park in any residents' bays but disabled spaces are only to be used by holders of the national orange or blue disabled badges."

She pledged the council would look into cases where there had been a misunderstanding over where to park.