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When I was treading the streets of the town made famous for its spa water, many residents would happily admit they would rather risk parking fines and keep their vehicle close by than cough up the ever increasing amount of cash demanded to pay to park in a multi-storey facility further away.

The perception among many motorists and residents I used to speak to was either too few parking attendants were around or they were patrolling car parks trying to catch out those few people that actually attempted to park legally.

As ashamed as I am to bring my profession into disrepute, I will admit one of my former colleagues used to brag she constantly parked illegally in the town centre and pointed out she never got caught more than once a month leaving her better off than me.

The fines were only two figures and if you regularly took your car with you to shop in Tunbridge Wells at the turn of the century you would find yourself having paid the same amount after only a couple of trips.

You get the sense with the FSA's latest final notice that the regulator has woken up to the fact many advisers clearly had the same opinion of their enforcement officers as Tunbridge Wells residents had of traffic wardens.

Kicking off a wet July week the FSA banned and fined mortgage broker Sadia Nasir, director of a firm based in Ilford called London Mortgage and Financial Services Limited, £129,000 for involvement in mortgage fraud

Ms Nasir, who was an FSA approved person whose firm also traded as House of Finance, had been involved in numerous fraudulent mortgage applications.

She is not the first, and sadly is unlikely to be the last to be involved in this sort of activity. This year the FSA has banned 12 other mortgage brokers and one mortgage introducer for involvement in submitting false mortgage applications.

However, Ms Nasir does have the claim to fame that she is the first adviser to have been both banned and fined for mortgage fraud.

The City watchdog said the six figure fine slapped on Ms Nasir was aimed at deterring approved persons from getting involved in mortgage fraud and was also aimed at taking back illicit profits she made.

Sometimes the FSA comes in for criticism but on this occasion I feel it deserves a round of applause. If our national newspapers are to be believed too often in life the sentence does not fit the crime. With the hefty fine against Ms Nasir the regulator is making it clear it will ensure the measure of punishment it hands out will hit the wrongdoer as much as her action have impacted negatively on the reputation of this industry.

Margaret Cole, director of enforcement for the FSA, said Ms Nasir's actions were particularly blatant and she posed an immediate risk to lenders and her clients.

The FSA had banned a number of mortgage advisers this year in connection with mortgage fraud but the problem of intermediaries fiddling application forms to get their clients a deal persists. Hopefully this will be the warning shot those dragging our industry down need.

Emma Hughes is editor of Mortgage Adviser