A QUIET evening meal with friends in Wellington turned into a £60,000 nightmare for a visiting sales executive from London.

Charlie Holder parked his F-Type Jaguar outside the Baptist Church in South Street on Saturday evening before heading off for what he thought would be a pleasant evening.

But when he returned he found the car up on the pavement and the back of the vehicle badly damaged.

“I didn’t notice anything was wrong at first,” said Charlie. “But then I noticed the car was up on the pavement and thought, ‘that’s strange,’ I don’t remember parking that badly.

“It was only when I looked over the car that I noticed it had been hit by another vehicle which had been left near the scene of the incident. The driver was nowhere to be seen.”

His Jaguar was taken away by a breakdown vehicle on Sunday afternoon for the damage to be assessed.

Charlie added: “It’s a high-spec car and we don’t know yet whether it can be repaired. It costs £120,000 new and I suppose my car is, or was, worth £60,000.

“The trouble now is all the inconvenience it is causing. I will have to hire a car to get back to London. Admittedly the driver contacted me on Sunday morning to apologise. He must have panicked at the time. I suppose it can happen to anyone – I was young once!”

Police were called to the scene and have issued the following statement: “We are treating the incident as a non-injury road traffic collision. No offences were identified, there were no injuries and insurance details have been exchanged.”