Car crime victim made to pay

Pensioner Robert Arnold is among a growing group of people angry at charges made after vehicles have been vandalised, or stolen and then removed to pounds.

Yesterday we reported how youth worker Alan Seabrook has launched a campaign urging motorists not to pay the charges, after he was charged £105 to get his stolen car back.

Mr Arnold has been the victim of car crime twice in the past month.

His Volvo was set alight by vandals in a car park near his home in East Grinstead.

Ten days later, his replacement Montego was stolen.

The 66-year-old retired company representative had already been charged £78 to have his burnt-out car removed from the car park in Imberhorne Lane, East Grinstead, by Mid Sussex District Council.

The Montego was stolen from the same car park and found in Crawley a week later by the police.

It was taken to the car pound, operated by WH Commercials, who charged Mr Arnold £144.53 to get it back.

He was told legal action would be taken if he left the car at the pound.

Mr Arnold said: "I have been the victim of car crime yet I am having to pay as if I was the criminal.

"The whole thing is absolutely ridiculous.

"I am amazed I should have to pay £144. 53 to get my car back. I am a pensioner and can only just afford to run a car.

"I have third party insurance but, even if I had been insured for fire and theft, making the claim would have demolished my full no claims bonus and pushed insurance premiums out of my reach.

"When the council took away my burnt car, I never thought I would be charged for the removal. I have to park the car in that car park because there is nowhere else around here."

Sussex Police say cars are taken to pounds so they can be fingerprinted and kept securely.

They say the storage costs can be reclaimed from insurance companies.

A spokeswoman for Mid Sussex District Council said: "If we can identify the owner, we send them the bill for taking the vehicle away."