Driver spent 12 hours looking for car in Edinburgh after Scottish Power move it for roadworks

A driver spent 12 hours looking for his car after it was moved by Scottish Power so that they could dig up a road in the Capital.
Generic picture of roadworks. A driver spent 12 hours looking for his car after it was moved.Generic picture of roadworks. A driver spent 12 hours looking for his car after it was moved.
Generic picture of roadworks. A driver spent 12 hours looking for his car after it was moved.

Lawrence Rivers found a gaping hole at the spot where he had left his Mercedes in Dryden Street.

He had been visiting the Capital from Leicestershire to take part in Fringe comedy shows, but didn’t see the funny side when he could not find his vehicle.

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After contacting police and ScottishPower neither could tell him where his car had been moved to.

Following calls to vehicle recovery companies and searching around the city, his wife Asha traced the firm who had moved it.

12 hours later he found the car about a mile away from where he had parked it.

Speaking to the Daily Record he said: “I spent hours walking the streets but there’s no way I would have found the car without Asha phoning round the vehicle recovery companies. Even then, the details of where it had been taken were a bit vague.

“It was so random.”

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Lawrence said: “It was about 7am and I was standing in a street in Edinburgh with all the belongings I had for the trip. Where my car should have been there was a big hole.

“I couldn’t drive home and I couldn’t go back to the accommodation.

“On a lamp-post, a sign had been left with a number to call. I called and left a message but never got a call back.

“When I phoned ScottishPower, I couldn’t get through to the proper department. When I eventually did, a recorded message said their office hours were Monday to Friday.

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“ScottishPower didn’t tell the police where they had moved it to.

“At first, the police said they would find out for me. But a few hours into the search, they said they had drawn a blank. It was a comedy all of its own.”

It was only when he expanded his search by gettign his wife to help with calls that he found his vehicle.

He said: “I finally found the car at Tennant Street, following a full day of panicking.

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“I get that emergencies happen and I don’t have an issue with that. But I do have an issue when no one knows where my car has gone.”

A spokesman for SP Energy Networks said: “Engineers had to carry out emergency repairs on Dryden Street to fix a cable fault that could have resulted in power supplies being affected.

“It is very rare that we need to remove cars to get to a fault and when we do, our contractors inform the police.

“We apologise for any concern caused and we will investigate the issues raised.”