Pictured: The driver who avoided parking ticket by refusing to get out of his towed-away car for TWO HOURS

Wardens had loaded the BMW 5 Series on to their truck but gave in and lowered it back down after the man claimed to have been asleep in the back seat and would not get out.

Mr Shah, who would not give his first name, later admitted he had actually hopped on to the tow truck and into the driver's seat as the attendants looked the other way.

Showdown: Mr Shah, whose hand is visible in the windscreen, refused to leave his BMW as it sat on the tow truck

Mr Shah, a 29-year-old personal trainer, said: 'It feels like victory. It would have cost me £250 if they had taken it to the pound.'

He admitted he was in the wrong but said he had not understood the parking signs near his West London house when he parked on a single yellow line in Beaconsfield Terrace Road, West Kensington, at 6pm yesterday.

Restrictions end at 7pm. He said: 'My neighbours said they'd loaded my car on to the truck so I jumped in and pretended I had been asleep on the back seat.

The stand-off continues as Mr Shah steps out of his car ... but resolutely refuses to leave it

'I refused to get out and just sat there reading the paper and listening to music for a couple of hours.

'I even ordered a sandwich from the café over the road.

'The police came around and the owner of the tow company arrived but I was stubborn and in the end they got so frustrated they let me go.'

It is believed Mr Shah still faces the original £60 parking ticket.

A spokeswoman for Hammersmith & Fulham council said: 'Our civil enforcement officer was simply doing his job but if there is a complaint we will, of course, investigate thoroughly.'

A victorious Mr Shah attends to his car after frustrated wardens release it