Two former Parking attendants have claimed they were pressured into meeting targets.

The pair said while patrolling the streets of Brighton and Hove they were under strain to issue as many tickets on as possible.

To meet quotas, the attendants say fines were awarded for trivial offences, including £60 fines if drivers displayed disabled badges upside down, left a single wheel on a double yellow line or arrived back to their vehicle two minutes late.

Their employer, NCP, said anyone issuing tickets incorrectly could be fired.

The company defended its policy on giving tickets to people who display disabled badges according to strict rules and to those who park on double yellow lines, even if only by a wheel, which is illegal.

Brighton and Hove City Council said the NCP was doing a "great job".

One woman employee said an attendant was sacked for issuing false tickets.

Others made exceptions for restaurant owners in return for discounts or free food or boasted about how many tickets they had issued, with one claiming to have given out 80 tickets in a day.

The latest claims have been strongly denied by operator NCP.

The firm said it never sets targets and in fact has a limit on the number of tickets it can give out in Brighton and Hove.

But the claims have re-ignited accusations motorists in the city are being unfairly treated.

NCP attendants issued 160,564 tickets to motorists in Brighton and Hove in the last financial year, compared to 131,374 in Manchester and 50,630 in Bristol.

Ex-parking attendant Stephen Bailey, 30, was fired from his job last week on the grounds that he had taken unauthorised absences.

But he said for weeks NCP had encouraged him to resign because of his performance.

He said: "I know traffic wardens that will come along and book a disabled badge for being upside down.

"That is pathetic. If someone has a disabled badge, they have it for a reason.

"Others will book someone two minutes after their pay and display ticket has expired.

"I like to give people half an hour. They might have a disabled person or kids with them."

Mr Bailey, from Norfolk Road, Littlehampton, a former security guard, had worked for NCP for eight months.

He said: "There is a lot of pressure on you to give out a certain number of tickets. They want you to give ten to 15 a day."

The second attendant, who did not want to be named, resigned in July after confronting her boss about the way she was treated.

She said she was continually told her performance was "below average" at assessments held every couple of months.

She said: "I was told I would have to work harder but I cannot force people to do something they are not doing.

"They would assume you were skiving off or having too many tea breaks or ignoring vehicles. I had to take photos to prove the streets were empty.

"It's total pressure."

The former attendant said at one assessment her manager called her performance "disgraceful".

"She said the person the day before had managed to get 11 tickets and asked what I had been doing all day."

Although attendants were never instructed to issue tickets illegally, the attendant claimed it was common for them to bend the rules on their own initiative and the Brighton and Hove offices competed to see who issued the most tickets each day.

She revealed many attendants ticketed cars parked only inches over double yellow lines.

Others cheated the five minute observation period for double yellow lines and issued multiple tickets to abandoned cars.

The woman told The Argus one attendant was fired after he was caught making up registration numbers and issuing fake tickets.

NCP denied the allegations.

A spokesman said managers would never tell staff their performance had been disgraceful, attendants were not set targets and anyone found issuing tickets incorrectly or failing to give tickets to illegally parked cars could be fired.

He said the company was unaware of an attendant handing out 80 tickets in a day.

The spokesman said Stephen Bailey was fired for poor performance and failing to turn up to work without explanation on a number of occasions.

There was no pressure on employees, the spokesman added, and NCP's conduct was bound by its contract with the local authority.

But upside-down disabled stickers, he said, were open to fraud which could disadvantage genuine users.

Parking on double yellow lines is illegal.

He said penalty charge notices could in theory be given out from the second a pay and display ticket expired - but that in fact drivers always have at least five minutes to return to their vehicles because it takes five minutes to issue a ticket.

Brighton and Hove City Council sets an upper limit on the number of tickets NCP is able to issue.

A council spokesman said: "We cannot state often enough the very simple fact that if you park legally you will not get a ticket.

"We want people to park legally, and have recently extended the period of grace for people to buy their ticket from three to five minutes to make this even easier.

"NCP are doing a great job making our streets safer and keeping the city moving.

"Illegal parking is dangerous and can cause traffic chaos. You only have to think back a few years ago to the dreadful problems caused by illegally parked cars along main thoroughfares like Western Road to see the difference they are making."