For two years, a lonely car has been hanging out at a New Zealand airport waiting for its owner to return and unsurprisingly, has racked up a pretty huge bill.
Sure, it's easy to forget things: your keys, phone charger, even your whole car.
Okay, maybe not the last one, but it has actually happened as the owner of a blue Suzuki Swift with a 2018 registration plate has seemingly completely forgotten about their car for two years.
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And now, New Plymouth Airport has had enough, with chief executive David Scott taking out an ad to seek out the car's owner in the local paper.
According to the ad shared in the Taranaki Daily News, the car hasn't got long left in its spot and will be towed in 'the coming weeks' if the vehicle was left unclaimed.
"It’s been taken by a finance company who had a claim to it – there was outstanding debt on it," Scott noted.
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The ad was met with crickets, as you would imagine, especially considering the car has been collecting dust since March 2020.
The airport executive went on to describe the arduous process of locating the owner and said that while they've done 'research' it's been 'difficult'.
"We have actually done a lot over the last year or so, but the owner’s trail has gone dead. We were unable to locate the individual - they'd literally disappeared in thin air.
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"People are welcome to come and park in our lovely car park, but obviously when a car is sitting there too long it does obviously become a bit cost prohibitive for people."
According to RNZ, the fees related to the car amount to over $9,000 (£4,706), and while the cost of flights is changing, we'd say that's more than enough for the summer trip of a lifetime.
As the bill continues to rack up, Scott added: 'It just seemed like a case of pure abandonment'.
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"This happens all over the world that people abandon their cars when times get tough at the airport and I guess that it's just trickled all the way down to the 'Naki."
At least there was space for the car, as due to the travel restrictions during the past few lockdowns, the airport was pretty empty.
Scott continued to note: "The reality is for us the car park hasn't been exactly jammed for the past two years."
Still, the car is about to be towed, so, *tannoy voice* will the owner of a blue Suzuki Swift with a 2018 reg plate please come and collect their vehicle?
Topics: World News
Shola Lee