A LOUGHTON student was fined £190 for parking with her two wheels on a pavement.

Student Laura Fineberg, 21, had parked up the kerb because the road was narrow and she was concerned emergency vehicles would not be able to drive past.

Miss Fineberg returned to Warboys Crescent, Highams Park, after spending a day on work experience at the Guardian's head office, only to find her car had vanished.

After discovering that it had been towed away, Miss Fineberg, of Stanmore Way, had to pay £190 to get her silver Ford KA released from a car pound in Tottenham Hale.

She said: "It's very difficult to understand this over-zealous action in a residential street, and £190 is such a lot money. I don't think it really fit the crime at all."

Miss Fineberg had parked in Warboys Crescent a residential side street which had no lines or signs on the road for the day at 9.25am. When she returned at 4.45pm, she initially panicked that it had been stolen, but after knocking on the door of a resident, she was informed her car had been towed away.

A traffic warden had issued a ticket for the vehicle just before 1pm and returned an hour later and ordered for it to be towed away.

Miss Fineberg, who will be appealing against the fine, said: "I understand now that parking the way I did may not have been appropriate. I did however park my car there in such a way as to allow traffic to easily go by. You see so many cars parked the way I did. I feel the treatment I received was abysmal. I was in effect abandoned, with no notification, for parking in a way I felt would be more beneficial to other road users."

A Waltham Forest Council spokesman said: "A number of local residents have complained to the council that parked vehicles are causing an obstruction to pedestrians in the area and asked for action to be taken. We removed the car as it was parked across 50 per cent of the pavement, which is illegal.

"Drivers shouldn't assume that parking on the pavement is an acceptable way to avoid hindering other road users, as it merely obstructs the footway instead. In these cases, we advise drivers to find an alternative location to park."