A woman was left without her car for a year because a council forgot to inform her it had been towed away due to roadworks.
Madeleine Ruse, 22, assumed her 15-year-old Citroën had been stolen when she discovered it was missing from its usual parking space in February 2023. She reported it to the police and received a payout from her insurer.
Twelve months later, a letter from Sheffield city council notified her that her car had been removed for contravening temporary parking restrictions. She was told that the vehicle would be destroyed if she did not collect it within two days and pay a fine and charges, including a £12-a-day storage fee. Storage costs for the year amounted to nearly £4,400.
South Yorkshire police admitted they had been alerted by the council that the car had been removed in case it was reported missing. However, staff failed to inform Ruse when she reported it as stolen.
Ruse said: “I had left the car as usual on a street that usually has unrestricted parking and did not see any warning signs.
“My insurer, Hastings Direct, paid me £2,190 for the ‘theft’ but because it was recorded as an at-fault claim and I’m on a low income, I could no longer afford to insure a car.”
The recovered vehicle is so badly damaged, according to an insurance assessment, that it has been deemed a write-off. Ruse faced an extra £2,280 bill as Hastings Direct insisted that she return the payout and the cost of setting up her policy.
“An engineer’s report has concluded that it’s only worth scrap, which, if they’d known, would have invalidated my policy,” she said. “It had only recently passed its MOT when it vanished, but Hastings has so far failed to send me the report and is threatening to send debt collectors.”
Sheffield Parking Services blamed staffing issues and “changes in processes” when Ruse complained about the year-long delay and claimed it could not have anticipated her situation since “we do not usually get a response to these letters”.
It agreed to waive the fine and all fees after the Guardian intervened. Joe Otten, the chair of the council’s waste and street scene committee, said: “This was an unacceptable failure of process and there will be a thorough investigation and review of our systems to prevent further incidents like this. We are in contact with Ms Ruse and will be paying her appropriate compensation.”
Hastings Direct told the Guardian that damage to the vehicle was consistent with forced entry and that the engine would no longer start. It apologised for the delay in sending Ruse the engineer’s report and has since withdrawn its demand that she return the claim settlement.
A spokesperson said: “So that we can protect Miss Ruse from any additional stress or concern, we have agreed to remove the claim altogether. This means there is no impact on her no claims discount or future insurance premiums. We will retain the car and continue to liaise with Sheffield city council to clarify the suggestion that vehicle damage occurred whilst the car was in storage.”
South Yorkshire police said: “A human error meant an initial report from the council informing us Ms Ruse’s car had been towed was processed incorrectly. This meant that when Ms Ruse contacted us to report her vehicle as stolen, it had not been marked as ‘moved’ on our system and we instead marked the vehicle as ‘stolen’. We’d like to once again apologise to Ms Ruse for the error and understand the inconvenience this will have caused her.”
