Parking cost car owner R42,000

Desmond Grootboom, a businessman who lives in both Johannesburg and Cape Town, parked his blue Renault Clio at OR Tambo airport on 8 November in 2011 and gave his friend the car keys and the parking ticket so the car could be collected.

However, his friend lost the ticket and did not inform Grootboom. Instead he just left the car standing there.

"I never checked with him," Grootboom told the newspaper.

The car remained at the OR Tambo parking garage for 14 months.

Based on the airport's current price of R100 for the first 24 hours and R50 for every 12 hours thereafter, Grootboom owed the Airports Company SA R42,700, The Star reported.

This was higher than the book value of the car which was estimated to be worth between R20,000 and R40,000.

The licence disc on the vehicle had also expired and a R500 fine had been placed on the car's windscreen.

Source: Sapa via I-Net Bridge