Disabled motorists are having to wait more than two months for new blue badges because of a backlog of applicants.

Councils are telling disabled motorists they will have to wait weeks for their applications to be processed because they do not have enough staff to deal with them.

The delays follow changes in the blue badge system by the Department for Transport, designed to cut down on fraud.

Since January, council officials, not doctors, have been assessing hundreds of motorists for their eligibility as new badges have been introduced which are harder to forge.

West Sussex County Council is processing 1,800 applications each month while East Sussex County Council is dealing with an average of 800 reviews and receiving up to 250 new applications every month.

Brighton and Hove City Council refused to say how long it was taking to process applications.

In East Sussex 3,000 of the new badges have been issued this year while 171 applications have been refused.

Ten badge holders have been interviewed after reports of misuse and eight of these motorists had their badges immediately withdrawn.

The council is sending out reminders six weeks prior to permits expiring and said renewals should take around three weeks to process.

A spokesman said: “Provided an applicant supplies correct documentation and completes the form correctly there would not normally be a delay and priority is given to applicants who are waiting for review.”

West Sussex County Council said staff were working overtime to tackle the backlog.

A spokesman said: “We are sorry for the experience caused by the delays.”

Helen Dolphin, the director of policy for Disabled Motoring UK, said: “Normally we would expect the process to take six weeks.

“It can be incredibly upsetting for those people who have to wait for their permits and who rely on their badges.”