A MAN has hit out after being fined £150 for playing with his toy car in Epping Forest.

John Greenhill was prosecuted under an ancient forest byelaw after a forest keeper caught him playing with his model car near High Beech, Loughton.

The 28-year-old mechanic from Woodford Court in Woodford Bridge was charged with driving a model car on Forest land, knowingly that this is against the Epping Forest Byelaws'.

At a court hearing at Harlow Court last week, he was also ordered to pay costs of £150.

Condemning the fine as a "joke", Mr Greenhill told the Guardian how he was driving his remote control petrol model car in an open field when a forest keeper jumped out of his jeep.

He said: "The way the bloke came running across you would think I had an old lady on the floor and was ripping her apart. I put the toy car in the boot.

"Then he started giving me grief so I said, in polite words, why don't you go get a proper criminal?' "I was saying that I think it is a joke. There are people out there mugging old ladies and I am just having a bit of innocent fun with my car."

Mr Greenhill said there were two families watching the car and their children were chatting to him and enjoying it.

He said: "If someone was moaning I would stop, I was just having fun."

Nick Baker, the forest keeper who approached Mr Greenhill, said he became abusive when confronted and he admitted to having been warned before.

The 1878 Epping Forest Act, established to protect the forest, was updated in 1986 to prohibit the use of model cars. Warning notices are dotted throughout the forest, although only a few state that the use of model cars is forbidden.

Mr Baker said: "Model cars can travel at high speed and are extremely noisy, that goes against what the forest is here for and what is to be protected.

"If someone comes for a nice quiet walk in the countyside, they do not want to be disturbed by a noisy model car. "