Customers using Brighton and Hove buses cannot wait in the station because of a long-running dispute with Rees Elliott, the owner of the garage and station in Eastgate Street.

MP Norman Baker has called on Rees Elliott to allow passengers back into the shelter.

He said: 'It is now getting on for two years since Brighton and Hove Buses stopped using the existing bus station, as they refused to pay the £20,000 access fee required by the developers.

'Since then, passengers have had to wait either outside Waitrose or on a narrow pavement on East Street, both locations without shelters, which is clearly unacceptable.

'I believe it would be a welcome goodwill gesture by Rees Elliott to allow at least those buses bound for Ringmer and Tunbridge Wells once again to use the bus station free of charge, while the present future of the bus station remains uncertain.'

Martin Elliott, from Rees Elliott, said: 'We have been in discussion with Norman Baker, the bus operators and our legal team and it's something we are definitely considering.'