Comments left on our websites in response to a story about estate agents' Minis making it difficult for Balham residents to park have been traced to staff at the company at the centre of the row - Foxtons.

The company's workers did its reputation no favours, delivering insults to locals while posing as genuine residents They also masqueraded as customers and dished out praise to themselves, labelling the company "successful" and "professional".

Some of the pseudonyms used were GOD, Jesus and Mary, Ben Dover and Phanny Tikkla.

One comment from "Matt" directed at a resident who first complained about the number of Minis in the road where he has a permit to park, told him to get back in his box'.

Another, from "David" read: "Good luck with your life, you are gonna need it..."

In all, 17 of the 27 messages left on our sites came from the same IP address which the IT department could easily trace back to Foxtons.

Some comments were so offensive they had to be removed from the website.

When hearing about the issue, a Foxtons' PR woman said the company was pleasantly surprised to see how many positive comments were left on the story.

However, when she was told that the comments could be traced back to the Foxtons office, she said: "This is my worst nightmare."

Some staff gave real email addresses when commenting while others attempted to dodge identification.

Dan Menhinnitt, digital content editor for the surreycomet.co.uk and yourlocalguardian.co.uk, said: "A quick search of posters'' domain names showed a large number were registered to Foxtons. And some comments were even posted using a Foxtons email address."

A spokesman for Foxtons said: "We, like any other local business are entitled to park in accordance with the parking regulations. We aim to do so courteously (ie limiting the amount of cars to any one street). If any members of our staff have responded to the article they have done so in response to what they see as unfair criticism."