A ridiculously parked car blocked a fire engine’s path for almost a minute as it raced to get to the scene of a fire in Stamford Hill.

The vehicle was left at an absurd angle with its rear sticking out into Dunsmure Road, blocking the path of the emergency services.

Stamford Hill Pc James Higgins on Wednesday posted dashcam footage on Twitter showing the obstruction from days earlier, saying he would be pushing for the driver of the car would be prosecuted.

Pc Higgins has embarked on a mission to sort out the dangerous driving and shoddy parking that has been rife in the area for years.

“No one was hurt this time,” said Pc Higgins. “Luckily it was a mailbox on fire nearby and not a house with people inside. But again, it only takes a second for a fire to spread.

“The driver has been spoken to by myself. He wasn’t arrested but I have sent the footage off with a statement from me to our Met prosecutions team that deal with all our traffic offences.

“Our aim is not to arrest but to educate. But education and words of advice are not working and that is why no matter how small a traffic offence you commit on my ward, I will request that you get points or a fine to the maximum limit. They can argue how harsh that is at court if they wish.”

Some people have responded to Pc Higgins’ #DangerousParking campaign on Twitter, saying there are bigger priorities. But he hit back: “I’m focusing on it because incidents like this will happen again and again. Believe it or not I actually do a lot more and don’t deal with just traffic offences.

“Dangerous parking was made a ward priority by local residents concerned about issues in Stamford Hill.

“I don’t tweet much about everything else I deal with because I think dangerous parking gets ignored. I will continue to tweet about it until I feel satisfied people have got the message. People need to learn from this incident and see what can happen when you park dangerously.

“People will argue with me it’s because of the lack of parking in the area that people park dangerously. That is not and never will be an excuse to park dangerously.

“Why should everyone else on the road be put in danger because someone needed to stop to get a few groceries? It has got everything to do with people’s attitudes and selfish behaviour.”

Hackney police responded to the footage by calling the parking “unacceptable”. “Those 40 odd seconds could mean the difference between life and death,” said a spokesman.

It comes just days after Pc Higgins came across the astonishing sight of a concrete bollard ripped out of the ground in Stamford Hill – so cars could be parked in a closed-off area.

“Removing a safety bollard is dangerous and criminal damage,” he tweeted. “Anyone parking beyond them will have a busy day at court.”