Pensioner refuses to foot the bill (From Stroud News and Journal)

Pensioner refuses to foot the bill

AN EBLEY pensioner whose car was stolen by joyriders now faces a hefty bill well beyond his means to get it back.

Ken Phelps, 78, of Orchard Road had his car stolen on Wednesday night and at first was relievedto hear police had recovered it the following evening.

But his relief turned to horror when he found out how much he was expected to pay to get it back.

"They took it down to a garage in Frampton-on-Severn," said Mr Phelps.

"The garage wants to charge me 147 for towing it down there from the top of Foxmore Lane in Ebley, which is just around the corner from me."

"They want 12 a day for storage but I won't pay them a ha'penny."

"I've given them the car, as far as I'm concerned it's a write off.

"I've washed my hands of it."

Mr Phelps said the daily charge of 12 a day is more than his pension which is just 74.54 a week.

"I can't keep the car," said Richard Bull, director of the garage Severn Vale Services.

"If I did that for everybody I'd be a junk yard."

Although Mr Bull was sympathetic he said he was caught in the middle.

"I've tried to help him out the best I can," he said.

"I genuinely felt sorry for the guy."

The garage boss said he has already waived the storage costs but cannot afford to completely write off the recovery costs.

"I'm prepared to come to a deal with him on that," he said.

"I've even offered to sell him a cheap car - I can't do any more."

The vast majority of people would make their insurance company foot the bill, he said, but Mr Phelps' policy appeared not to cover him.

"He's going to end up getting a bill three times as big," said Mr Bull.

*For full story see this week's News & Journal