Parking in Newham can’t be that much of a problem if this fishy character managed to squeeze into a tight spot.

It was spotted by Ruth Wakeling who was confronted by what appeared to be a dead baby shark in between two parked cars on the corner of Eustace Road and Buxton Road in East Ham.

Baffled resident Ruth, of Eustace Road, was at a loss to figure out how it got there. After scratching her head, she dragged her disbelieving husband to see the specimen. They were soon joined by several neighbours who also pondered over the puzzling discovery.

She said: “I still haven’t got a clue where it came from. We have all been joking about it and we decided it must have fallen out of the sky.”

They reported it online to the council’s waste and recycling department, while her curious neighbours put it in a bin bag by the kerb because “we were unsure what to do with it at the time”.

Ruth, who works as a legal secretary, said:“I don’t know where it came from. We’ve all been talking about it at work as well and everyone’s completely baffled.”

Ruth added that they knew the shark wasn’t a fake because it gave off quite a powerful smell - something which council workers confirmed when they came to pick it up a few days later.

Enquiries are ongoing but if you can solve the mystery of how a dead baby shark came to be in East Ham, call us on (020) 8478 4444 or email melissa.york@archant.co.uk.

A council source said: “It looks like this shark came to a dead end after being in the jaws of a dilemma. When we received the call we thought there was something fishy about it. But there was definitely truth in the tail.”