A frustrated churchwarden has told motorists to go to church or move their vehicles from its car park as it has become overrun.

Alison Robinson, who volunteers at St Matthew's in Borstal, near Rochester, has issued a plea to drivers who are "abusing" the private lot by leaving their cars there but not using the church or neighbouring Cleave Warne Hall.

She said: "People who come to use the church or the hall cannot use the car park because people in the village think it is fair to park there. This has been going on since we built the car park.

"We like to think we are sympathetic with the people from the village. We had the car park built so that we would not be parking on the roads and taking up the villagers' spaces.

"Now it is the exact opposite. They think it is for all and they can park wherever they want.

"We are getting fed up with having to explain to our people that they cannot park because of the selfishness of the people of Borstal.

"We think people are abusing it. It would not hurt some to come to the church. As a bit of a bribe we could say come to church a couple of times a month and you can park here."

Alison said they are putting notices on the offending vehicles to stop using the car park but it has not been a successful deterrent.

Yesterday, there were four or five cars parked by people who were not using the facilities. One of which had been there for a few days and not parked in a space.

Alison said users of Cleave Warne Hall have been complaining about the lack of space and many are finding they cannot park on the site.

The churchwarden of 15 years added: "It is very frustrating. We cannot lock the car park because of the people using the hall. It has to be open for them to get in and out and we cannot afford to have a car parking agent.

"We are not quite sure what to do. It is hard to park. Our disabled members of the congregation find it difficult.

"We have had one or two people become very aggressive when we say they cannot park here. We do not want the congregation to challenge anyone.

"We have had people offer to pay to park here but that is not the answer. We really do not know quite where we go from here."

There are markings on the floor stating it is a private car park, a sign on the outside of the wall stating it is private and another as motorists drive in but Alison said they are ignored.

Former St Matthew's vicar Rev Anne Bennett raised the same issue in 2017 where she warned offending vehicles would be "blocked in" if they were not genuine users of the two buildings.

The church in Borstal Street had the car park built in 2012 so people of the congregation and users of Cleave Warne Hall, which sits behind St Matthew's, had a place to park.