A furious driver who refused to let his car be towed away took matters in to his own hands by brazenly reversing it off the back of a tow truck.

The moment the male driver slams in to reverse and crashes around three foot to the ground was captured on camera by parking enforcement officers in East London.

The car, believed to be a Vauxhall Vectra, had been loaded on to the lorry by Waltham Forest Council's parking contractors NSL after the driver was accused of illegally parking it in Hazelwood Road, Walthamstow.

But before staff had a chance to secure it the driver jumped on to the back of the truck and casually got behind the wheel of his car.

The video shows him accelerating off the platform and plummeting to the ground to shouts and cheers from people in the street.

"When you see the video you can't help being shocked by his actions," Clyde Loakes, the deputy leader of the council, said.

"The man had an utter disregard for anyone on the street and what he did was extremely dangerous.

"You can see kids and other members of the public milling around in the foreground of the video and thank goodness none of them were in the immediate vicinity or he could have killed someone."

The council said the car would undoubtedly have been left damaged following the incident, which was reported to police.

The incident happened around 8am on August 29.