A VICAR leapt to the rescue of a Parkinson's sufferer whose mobility car was targeted by traffic wardens as she worshipped on Easter Sunday.

Rev Jude Bullock succesfully prevented the vehicle being towed away and is vowing to campaign on behalf of vulnerable people who suffer the same fate.

He was furious when he saw the car belonging to disabled Valerie Black being hoisted on to a lorry in a quiet cul-de-sac outside St Anne's Church, Chingford.

He said: "It is absolutely ridiculous. I am going to launch a campaign against traffic wardens who ticket vulnerable and disabled people outside my church.

"The traffic warden was 100 per cent insensitive and when I told him that this was a disabled woman, he seemed completely oblivious to the circumstances.

"It's cruel that they are targeting the disabled."

He stepped in and paid Mrs Black's £250 fine and is appealing on her behalf.

Mrs Black attended an Easter service at the church in Larkshall Road and on leaving was shocked to see her car being taken.

"I was really really cross. I wasn't parked illegally and I couldn't believe that they tried to give me a ticket on Easter Sunday," Mrs Black said.

Mr Bullock said the part of Hatch Lane, where the car was left, was a dead-end and the two businesses nearby were not open on a Sunday.

He added that traffic wardens had ticketed cars belonging to his congregation during the weeks leading up to Christmas, and he believed his parishioners were being targeted.

"They use Hatch Lane because our car park is full but it is blocked off by the railway line and are not causing an obstruction. It is one thing to give a ticket to a motorist blocking a busy street but it is quite another to issue tickets to drivers not blocking anyone," he said.

Mrs Black, of Linnett Close, Chingford, said she had to postpone a social engagement with a friend because she was worried about not being able to get there without her car.

A Waltham Forest Council spokesman said: "We are sorry this has happened and we will of course cancel the ticket and offer a full refund.

"However, we would like to remind blue badge holders to display their badges while parking."