Frail pensioners evicted from the French Convalescent Home have been asked to pay towards the cost of the move.

Relatives of former residents of the home in Kemp Town were stunned when they each received £50 ambulance bills.

The trustees of the home had agreed to pay for moving furniture and re-directing mail and residents had assumed they would also pay for the cost of the ambulances.

The trustees claim the bills are a "mix-up" and have offered to pay.

The family of Louisa Chapman, 93, were stunned when they received a bill for £50 to pay for the private ambulance which moved her three miles to a new home in Hove.

Granddaughter Sarah Chapman, 28, said: "It's disgraceful. We did not ask for her to be moved, she didn't want to move, but she was moved regardless."

Mrs Chapman, a mother-of-three, had been at the home in De Courcel Avenue for 15 months when it was announced it would be closing.

In April, she was taken by Heathfield-based firm Superior Ambulance Services to her new home at Springfield Nursing Home in Hove.

Miss Chapman said: "My grandmother still talks about the convalescent home and how she would prefer to live there. When we told her she had to move she was quite upset. She had been there less than two years and didn't want to go."

Last month a bill arrived from the ambulance firm demanding £50 for the 20-minute trip. When Mrs Chapman's family did not pay, a reminder letter was sent which arrived last week. Miss Chapman, of Miller's Road, Brighton, said: "My mum was hopping mad. It was the last thing we expected after the trauma of the move."

It is understood at least two bills were sent to the families of former residents and some of these bills have still not been paid by angry relatives.

When the trustees announced the home would be closing, they agreed to pay for the cost of packing and moving residents' furniture and belongings, re-directing mail and re-connecting any telephone lines.

A spokeswoman for Superior Ambulance Service declined to comment.

John Mills, appointed by the trustees to oversee the closure, said it sounded like a mix-up.

He added: "The trustees booked the ambulance service to transport residents to new accommodation and, as far as they had understood, had already been billed for it.

"They are very surprised to hear any invoices are outstanding because they believed it was all paid for. No former residents should have been billed for this service.

"I will take the matter up directly with the ambulance company to see what has happened.

"Any residents with these bills should send them to me at the French Convalescent Home. If the bill is for moving residents to new accommodation, the trustees will pay."

The French Convalescent Home closed in May after the trustees sold the property to Bovis. It was granted listed status following an Argus campaign.

Bovis is expected to sell the empty building to another developer once it gains possession on July 31.