A councillor has accused “out-of-control” parking-wardens of behaving like “cattle rustlers” by towing away too many vehicles.

Councillor Andrew Sawdon said many residents have complained in recent months of their vehicles being towed away by council parking staff when they were not parked dangerously.

Only dangerously parked vehicles should be removed, according to a council policy introduced in May.

Coun Sawdon called the situation “Lambeth's latest parking scam”.

He said Lambeth was like the “Wild West” where “marauding parking pirates” from the council were “riding around in tow-trucks, slapping a ticket on a car and towing it away to the pound, all within a matter of moments”.

Residents have to pay hundreds of pounds to have their vehicle returned.

But a council spokesman said since its policy change, the council had only removed vehicles in the more serious cases, such as when people park in ambulance bays.

He said the number or removals had fallen by 20 per cent in the three months since the change, and the number of vehicles towed was expected to fall by 25 per cent next year.

Lambeth was the tow-away capital of London in 2008/9, with 7,238 vehicles taken to the pound.

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