Michael Edward had to pay £1,050 to get his vehicle back after it was towed away outside his home

When a man came home from a night out to find his car missing he made a shocked call to police – only to find the vehicle had been towed away by bailiffs for an offence he knew nothing about.

Michael Edwards, 29, of Brondesbury Park, had to stump up more than £1,000 to get his Ford Ka back after Islington Council impounded it due to an unpaid Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) which they had been notifying him about at the wrong address.

Back in October, his car was allegedly seen making an illegal right turn in Upper Holloway and the council sent letters to Mr Edwards in October, December and February.

But when it didn’t hear anything, instead of checking its records it handed the matter over to a debt collection company which did manage to find the correct address and towed Mr Edwards’ car away.

Mr Edwards said: “When I saw my car had gone I obviously thought it had been stolen, but when I called the police they told me bailiffs had it – something to do with Islington Council.

“In the end it cost me £1,050 to get my car back – I had to refinance a loan to get the money.

“It’s disgraceful. It’s like they just couldn’t be bothered to find out where I lived – until it came to taking my car.”

A council spokesman said it was a driver’s responsibility to update their address with the DVLA, which hadn’t happened in this case.

She added: “When bailiffs were instructed and they identified Mr Edwards’ new address, they wrote to him twice there and made three visits. But no response was received.”