A mum who was left baffled after a holidaymaker parked on her driveway near Birmingham Airport for almost a week has finally received an explanation. Debbie Flynn was furious to find a silver Vauxhall Mokka mysteriously left next to her garage on Tuesday, April 12.
The mum-of-two spent a week wondering why the motorist had gone so far as to unlock gates to her drive to purposely park there. Now she has found out after a note from her landlord.
Debbie told Birmingham Live how she suspected fraudsters had sold her drive as a cheap parking spot for the airport after police confirmed the car was not stolen and her landlord said he knew nothing about it. But the mum has now received an email from her landlord, who had forgotten he'd registered for a parking app years ago.
Debbie said: "One of the first things I did when I found the car was to ask the landlord if he knew anything about it and he said he didn't. The landlord has since been in touch and said that years ago he opened a parking app for his drive.
"He has just checked his emails and a female driver has emailed him saying she has parked on his drive, gone on holiday and will be back next week. I can’t believe it!"
Debbie added: "My first thought when it happened was that it was my landlord. I did send him a text that wasn’t very polite but when the landlord made contact, he reassured me it wasn’t his car."
Debbie and her partner Leon had originally put chains around the car's wheels so the returning motorist would have to give an explanation for parking there. But that has all changed now they have got the bottom of the landlord's lapse in memory.
Parking apps, where residents rent spaces on their property, have become a popular way to earn extra money, especially for those living near airports, train stations and city centre sites. But they have also become targeted by fraudsters who get money from unsuspecting motorists to park on land they don't own.
The mum-of-two informed police when the car first appeared but officers said they were powerless to move the Vauxhall Mokka from the grass verge of their drive as it was a "civil and not criminal matter". If Debbie had damaged the car while trying to move it, she would be liable for an offence of criminal damage under the current law.
Debbie had described her confusion over the car when it first appeared saying it was like it "had just dropped out of the sky" and was "a complete mystery". She added: "The cheeky g*ts opened my gate and parked it and shut the gates after leaving it on the grass. The police officer who came to see us said he had never seen anything like this in all his years."
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