A key lesson

So, as I mentioned earlier, my car got stolen.

I gather the figures say that car crime is going down. No doubt largely because modern cars are made much more difficult to steal.

The embarrassing problem for me is that the thief did not break into my car... he/she used the keys after I dropped them in the hallway as I came into the office.

It was not until the end of the day that I noticed the lack... first of my keys... and then of a dark blue Toyota Corolla Verso.

It pretty quickly dawned on me how daft I'd been... but then the dark thoughts quickly came flooding-into my head.

The place I dropped these keys is behind a door which is supposed to close automatically and can be opened only by entering a combination code known to a couple of dozen people in the building.

Clearly it was no-one in our office had found the keys and stolen the car. It must have been a visitor, either to our office or someone coming and going from the premises of our near neighbours who share a staircase.

I offered a reward for information leading to to the return of the car but it produced no results. In fact the door geets wedged open sometimes (what have I TOLD them!)

A very nice policeman named Gary came out and took the details for a crime report. Pleasant personal service so top marks there!

Gary pointed-out that there is an extensive network of Number Plate Recognition cameras in and around Liverpool and he felt confident that the missing motor would "ping up" somewhere when it went through a camera.

Within 48 hours I got a call from a rather bored-sounding officer at St Helens. My car had been found and had been taken-off to the a commercial compound used for the purpose.

The level of "customer care" displayed by the staff at this depot was less that exemplary. Not only that they closed at 11am on a Saturday. So even if they car had been in a drivable condition, which it was not, I would have been hard-pressed to get it back, before the weekend.

It finally cost more than £250 in recovery and storage fees. And when it got to the repair garage I learned that a piston had been holed and the engine repair - doubtless caused by excessive revs - will cost more than £1000.

An expensive lesson in looking after your car keys!

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