A Greenwich woman is furious after her vandalised car was scrapped by the council without her knowledge.

Emma Murray, 46, parked her Nissan Micra in Coleraine Road and returned five days later to find it had vanished with only a heap of ash and glass in its place.

A passing postman informed her it had been vandalised and she later discovered it had subsequently been removed and destroyed by Greenwich Council.

The car was fully taxed, licensed, and registered to Emma’s address two streets away – and even contained her children’s coats, wellies and ballet kits when it was removed.

Ms Murray, who owns Meantime Communications in Greenwich, is upset that the council’s actions left her unable to recover her belongings or investigate the vandalism.

She said: “One day I park my little red car in a leafy street, a few days later it is simply gone. I can’t imagine any other situation when anyone has the right to remove and destroy another person’s property without informing them. They never tried to contact me before to ask permission, they didn’t contact me afterwards to say they had done it.”

Mother-of-three Ms Murray parked the car on Monday, September 5, while her resident’s permit was being renewed.

But when she returned the following Saturday, a postman walking by showed her a picture of the ruined and burnt-out car.

She later discovered the fire brigade had been called on Wednesday September 7 to put the fire out. Greenwich Council then scrapped the car on Friday, September 9, without informing her.

The Nissan, which was a gift from her mother, was affectionately nicknamed the 'Red Rocket' by her kids and had just 7,000 miles on the clock.

Ms Murray said: “I have asked for an explanation but I have been told that Greenwich Council has no responsibility to ask my permission or to notify me of what they had done.

“My kids’ coats and wellies and ballet kits were in that car, and I will never know what actually happened to it – if someone burnt it, why is no one looking to see who did it?

“My mum is also distressed, it took a lot for her to give up the car and she was happy knowing we had it. I can’t give either of them an answer because we don’t know what happened, Greenwich took that opportunity away from us.

“Greenwich robbed me of the ability to find out what happened and denied me the right as to whether I wanted my possessions destroyed or not.”

“When I called to see if they could help, they at first denied any knowledge of it,” she said.

“Their subsequent attitude – taking over a week on two occasions to respond to my queries, washing their hands of any responsibility and initially denying the incident, is appalling."

Ms Murray’s seven-year-old daughter Maddie has been affected by what happened and looks out of the window frequently to check if their new car is there. “My youngest is still upset,” she said. “She is worried the same person will come and burn our new car, she looks out of her window at night to see if it is still there.”

A Greenwich Council spokesman said: “Vehicles which have been burnt out and contain shattered glass are removed from the public highway as soon as possible.

“The borough has a legal duty to remove vehicles which pose a risk to the health and safety of residents. Evidence is collected from all removed vehicles and this is submitted to the insurance company to assist the owner with any claims they wish to pursue.

“It would not be appropriate to comment on individual cases.

“However, we can confirm we are in correspondence with Ms Murray and are happy to provide answers to any questions she may have.”