Sheffield parking firm accused of theft after vehicles taken from garage forecourt

Workmen employed by the Tinsley-based firm Excel Parking smashed the windows of a van and a car - which were both parked on the forecourt of the Jupiter Garage in Millhouses - after owner Mark Fletcher had left for the day on Monday.

Neighbours called police who challenged the men, but after they produced paperwork proving Excel Parking owned the vehicles they were given the green light to take them away.

The entire episode was caught on CCTV but garage owner Mark Fletcher says he has been told by police no crime has been committed and it is a civil matter.

He said: “I told Excel last year would start charging them £15 a day for storage and then 10 days ago sent them an invoice for £11,000.

“I thought that is what they do to other people. It is like the tables have been turned.”

“But they sent these two men down after hours on Monday without paying either the original bill or the storage charge. Which in my book is theft.”

Mark, who has owned Jupiter Garage on Smithy Wood Road for 19 years, said he had been doing work for Excel Parking for around a decade.

He said he originally did around £400 worth of work plus VAT on both vehicles three or four years ago but the company never came to collect them or pay the bill.

“We have had quite a long relationship which makes it worse,” he said.

A representative for Excel Parking Services Ltd said: “We have a very different version of events to those alleged by Mr Fletcher and as such we do not consider it appropriate to comment any further at this stage.”

When asked to confirm if the men who had recovered the cars had been employed to do so by Excel Parking, the spokesperson said they had nothing to add to their statement.

A spokesperson for South Yorkshire Police said as the matter was an ongoing investigation in the hands of their legal services team it would be ‘inappropriate’ to comment at this stage.