The nastiest traffic wardens ever?

These days it seems traffic wardens will stop at nothing to secure their daily target of parking tickets.

In a second scene wardens violently shake a car to dislodge a disabled parking permit from the dashboard, before slapping a ticket on the windscreen and running off.

Fortunately, the scenes are not real and the wardens are actors in a film for a campaign by Appealnow.com, a website which fights unfair parking tickets on behalf of drivers which has been set up by Barry Segal.

But the British Parking Association, which represents parking enforcement firms, attacked the advertisements. BPA chief executive-Keith Banbury said: "It is hard to imagine a more irresponsible way of promoting a business. The truth is many parking attendants face daily abuse, racism and violence. This kind of advertising sends out a wholly unacceptable message."

Nick Lester, transport director of the Association of London Government, which represents councils, added: "Unless Mr Segal has evidence to suggest it is based on reality I think it is wrong."

The images, doing the rounds as 20-second-long email videos, were shot by the managing director of London advertising film company Great Guns, Laura Gregory. Mr Segal said: "These are good-humoured ads designed to highlight the iniquitous situations motorists find themselves in when they try to park.

"The ads use exaggeration and humour but have a serious purpose - to make people aware of the abuses parking attendants, councils who employ them and their contractors, perpetrate against motorists. I believe many motorists will identify with the ads."

Defending the films' content, Mr Segal said: "Although we haven't heard of a parking attendant preventing someone getting to their car in time they have plenty of other tricks up their sleeves. And they routinely claim not to have seen clearly displayed disabled parking permits."

Great Guns' clients include Ford, Rover and Audi.