An East Sussex pet shop owner claims he’s losing almost half his trade because traffic wardens don't enforce parking restrictions outside his store.

Garry Sanders has called on traffic wardens to enforce one hour limits outside his pet shop in Hangleton Lane, Hove, because motorists are flouting the rules.

The pet shop owner said some drivers were leaving their cars all day while they went to work without being punished with a ticket.

He said the full parking spaces meant trade was being lost to nearby national pet chains.

However, council officials said wardens had been to the trouble spot in response to Mr Sanders' complaint but could find no examples of illegal parking.

Mr Sanders said: “We need to see more traffic wardens in Hangleton.

“Drivers can overstay in bays and they don't get checked but if my customers then double park they get done by the police.

“We normally serve about 100 customers a day but get a couple of cars parked all day in the lay-by and we might only get 60.

“The problem in our trade is people buy in bulk and you are not going to buy a 20kg bag of dog food and walk half a mile with it.”

Hangleton and Knoll Councillor Dawn Barnett said: “Motorists are double-parking, parking in disabled bays and in the cycle lane, so people who use the shops can't park near to go to them.

“If people can't get into the local shops they will go elsewhere which can cause big problems for the smaller shops.”

A Brighton and Hove City Council spokeswoman said: “The council received a complaint last week about vehicles parking for longer than allowed in the bays outside Hangleton shops.

“A civil enforcement officer went out immediately to log vehicles in the area.

“A follow-up check was made an hour later by which time all the logged vehicles had left the bays so no Penalty Charge Notices were issued on that occasion.”