Croydon Council is to leave cars illegally parked in roads after scrapping its loss-making removal service.

Council staff will stop towing and seizing problem vehicles at the end of this month before its Factory Lane car pound shuts down in November, putting 14 jobs at risk.

The removal service and pound have made a loss of more than £1m over the last five years.

But the decision to close them was branded "a complete shambles" by the Conservative opposition group, which claimed it would put people in danger.

Under the current system, wrongly parked vehicles are issued fixed-penalty notices (PCNs) and towed by council staff to the Stubbs Mead car pound.

But from November 1 cars will be moved by a private contractor only "in the event of an emergency" or if they have been abandoned, the council said.

It is understood vehicles that illegally parked cars that cause an inconvenience - such as blocking pavements and drives - will simply be left in place.

Councillor Kathy Bee, cabinet member for transport and environment, said: "The last thing this council wants to do is cut services, but in this case we simply had no choice.

"The vehicle-removal service and car pound have cost council taxpayers more than £1m in recent years, evidence that their continued operation was not offering residents good value."

But her Conservative opponent, Coun Phil Thomas, previously cabinet member for transport and highways, said: "This is going to cause a complete shambles in Croydon. This is a healthy and safety issue.

"It is putting members of the public in danger because they now won't be able to walk on the pavement if the car is blocking it."

He added: "Croydon Council is washing its hands of any complaints it gets about cars that are parked dangerously or blocking a pavement where elderly people, families with pushchairs or disabled people can't get past.

"This is a valuable service that residents in Croydon are losing because of the council making the wrong choice."

The removal service has made a loss of £150,000 or more in each of the last five years.

The council said it would look to find new roles for staff affected by the service's closure.

The decision to scrap the service was taken behind closed doors and announced to councillors in an email on Tuesday.

The email, written by a council officer and seen by the Croydon Guardian, read: "Although many motorists will be happy that we are no longer removing vehicles to our car pound after they have had a PCN issued, we do get a number of requests for this service, particularly from residents & businesses whose driveways have been blocked by an illegally parked car. 

"After 31 October 2015 we will still send an officer out to the location and a PCN will be issued where a car is illegally parked, but we will no longer be able to remove vehicles."

Drivers will have until November 30 to reclaim towed vehicles from the pound. After that date they will be scrapped or sent to auction.

Coun Bee said: "The decision to terminate the service was taken only after we’d consulted with all those affected, and we will, of course, continue to offer staff any support we can."