John Bassett, 72, of Prince Charles Road, Lewes,was using his disabled badge for the first time when he was fined in Friars Walk.

He has since reluctantly paid a £60 fine but was unhappy with the treatment. He said the parking scheme was 'ruining' the town.

Mr Bassett, a retired storeman from the Lewes Police HQ in Church Road, said: 'I think it's very unfair.

'I came back to the car and tried to explain but the warden didn't want to know.

'I have problems breathing and my doctors said I ought to get a disabled badge and this was the very first time I'd used it.

'What makes it worse is the ticket says it I was parked in a pay and display car park without displaying a valid pay ticket, but I had the disabled badge and it didn't say anything about that.'

A spokesman for East Sussex County Council, which runs the hugely unpopular parking scheme in Lewes, said: 'Unfortunately, Blue Badge fraud is rife and parking attendants cannot properly identify whether one is forged or genuine if it is displayed upside down.

'That is why attendants up and down the country are under strict instruction to automatically issue parking tickets for this breach of the rules.

'These can be overturned at appeal if they are deemed to be unfair but, in this case, there was no appeal.'

Last week the Express reported the case of a Don Short, 85, a disabled Dunkirk war veteran who is almost blind, who was given a parking ticket - despite displaying a disabled badge on his wife's car.

In December Ann Teare 84, from Newick Green, was also given a ticket even though her disabled badge was visible.

In Mrs Teare's case the county council refused an appeal but cancelled the fine a week after her story appeared in the Sussex Express.