Vikki Maslin, 32, was saying goodbye to one of her friends when they spotted the animal in Candler Street at 9.30pm. She said it was the last thing she expected to see in town and rushed to grab her camera.

And her dramatic pictures clearly show the bright eyes of a fox staring into the lens.

She said: "I saw straight away it was a fox. I was very surprised. It just stopped and looked then it ran off when a cat appeared.

"It seemed quite happy to be where it was. It was limping so I don't know if it would've got into the bins. I was scared of it and I didn't want to get too close. It didn't seem to be scared of me it just looked right at me."

Geoff Edmond, the RSPCA chief inspector for the Scarborough area, said foxes in towns were quite common and Scarborough has a lot of "green areas".

He said: "Scarborough is an unusual town which has a lot of woodland and green areas. There are a few foxes about and at this time of year the nights are very short."

Mr Edmond said the time of the sighting coincided with the animal's normal nocturnal activity, but he was unsure if it would have been there just because of the rubbish.

He said: "At the end of the day you can't say definitely but it's certainly a possibility. It is a wild animal and a scavenger for food. If there is easy food available it is going to scavenge and take the food.

"In the countryside a fox is going to be looking for rabbits and other wild food but these aren't readily available in town so it will look for other food."

He said the fox probably would not have been too badly injured or he would have had several calls from concerned members of the public.

The advice from the RSPCA for people who see a fox in town is to leave them alone because the animal is not a threat to them.

Andy Skelton, Scarborough Council's head of environmental services, said urban foxes had been relatively common in Scarborough for a number of years.

He said: "We have a history of sightings on the South Cliff and along the old Scarborough to Whitby railway line, which obviously forms a green route out into the countryside and is an ideal route for wildlife to obtain access to the town.

"I notice this picture was taken in Candler Street which is fairly close to the old railway line. There is no history of urban foxes causing problems to residents and we have no concerns on environmental health grounds, indeed many residents take pleasure from watching foxes."