An Auckland writer has spent two days trying to find his missing British sports car after Vector subcontractors towed it, but couldn’t tell him where.
Adrian Blackburn, a former Herald journalist, was only reunited with his “prized” MG F Rover after contacting police, who were able to tell him the car’s exact location.
Blackburn said the incident highlighted Vector’s “useless communication skills” and questioned why there weren’t better processes to help owners find their relocated vehicles.
“Big companies like power utility Vector are out of control, arrogant, unhelpful and take no responsibility for effective communication when they’re out of line,” he said.
Vector has apologised for the inconvenience and said it will be reviewing processes.
Blackburn first discovered his car was missing on Thursday, and suspected it had been towed so Vector could carry out electrical works on his street in Milford.
In a post on his Facebook page, Blackburn said he was informed by other residents that Vector had been replacing a large concrete power pole and some vehicles had been towed to prevent any potential damage to them.
He noted the emailed notices warning of work in the area hadn’t specified where exactly the work was being done and made no mention of residents needing to move their vehicles.
A neighbour told Blackburn someone had knocked on his door asking him to shift his van, and mentioned another neighbour’s vehicle had been moved to the next road over.
“I started walking, checking both the street where my car had been parked, then neighbouring streets. No MG. A perimeter of a good 400m. Plenty of free kerb space for it to be parked safely again,” Blackburn said.
“Dude, where’s my car?” he wrote.
He then contacted Vector’s help desk and the woman on the phone was unable to find any details about where his car was. She sent a report to the resolution team, he said.
He later received an email from Vector, saying vehicles would generally be moved to nearby streets.
“We kindly suggest you do a neighbourhood check of close by streets whilst we enquire with our field services team,” the email said.
Blackburn then called the help desk again, asking which towing company might have moved the car and to where. He was unable to get any answers.
He questioned why Vector did not contact owners to let them know their cars were about to be moved, possibly by getting their contact details through NZTA.
He felt the company should operate with “normal courtesies of prior notice and respectful communications” about its plans.
Blackburn was able to find out online that towing companies are required to advise police when they tow a car, so today he called police to see if they had any news.
When the Herald called him today, he had just found his car after police gave him the address it had been towed to, several hundred metres from its original spot.
“I came down this road very carefully and didn’t spot it at the time,” he said.
“[I don’t know] whether it was temporarily somewhere else or not. Neither I nor my neighbour, who comes up and down the road quite regularly, had seen it.”
The orange convertible sports car appeared to be undamaged, he said.
While glad to have his car back, Blackburn said the saga had been unnecessary and the process for finding relocated cars could be simplified.
“It just seems a total waste of time,” he said.
In a statement, Vector said it notified customers in advance of planned outages, including advising owners to move their cars if they were within a worksite area.
“Towing is only carried out when absolutely necessary to complete the work, and there are strict rules in place when doing so,” Vector said.
“We understand this has been an extremely frustrating experience for Mr Blackburn, and we apologise for the inconvenience caused. We’re reviewing our processes, alongside our contractors, so that in the rare event a vehicle is towed due to our work, we can better support customers in locating their vehicle.”
Melissa Nightingale is a Wellington-based reporter who covers crime, justice and news in the capital. She joined the Herald in 2016 and has worked as a journalist for 10 years.