A mother has taken to fencing in her car to stop it being repeatedly attacked by foxes.

At first Jeanne Emerson thought the vehicle was being targeted by human vandals.

But it turned out the sly saboteurs were foxes, who have bitten through the brake cables of her Peugeot six times.

The 55-year-old, who lives in Pemberton Close, in Lancing, has now put chicken wire around her car to stop the animals getting |to it.

She said she could not afford any more incidents after seeing her insurance premiums rocket following successive claims.

The first attack was in September last year, with the car being damaged twice in two weeks.

Fearing foul play, Mrs Emerson called the police, but was stunned when forensic experts told her the cunning culprits were foxes.

She said: “I discovered they like brake fluid because it is sweet.”

Worse was to come as, having fixed the car, the brush-tailed brutes were at it again.

Mrs Emerson said: “Foxes are creatures of habit and they kept coming back.”

She tried moving her vehicle into different parking spots, despite having a specific space for the car, which |is specially adapted for her disabled daughter Samantha.

But she could not out-fox the animals, who managed to track down her car – the only one high enough in the area for the foxes to get underneath.

After attempts with anti-chew spray and animal repellants, she decided to take matters to the extreme and now wraps a length of chicken wire around it whenever she parks.

And it seems to be working.

She said: “They haven’t got through it yet, touch wood.

“There are often three or four of them sitting there looking at it but they don’t know what to do now.”

Mrs Emerson said her close frequently has foxes now and they are becoming a nuisance.

She said once one of the animals even tried to climb through her window while she was taking a shower.

While against fox hunting, she believed a “humane and quick” cull could be the answer.

She added: “Sometimes people feel sorry for them and feed them, or there are plenty of wheelie bins.

“They have become domesticated and do not fear humans any more.”