Josephine was forgiving when a drunk driver plowed through her garden gate. Little did she know, this was just the beginning of her nightmare
A woman was left with the mangled wreck of a 4WD in her backyard for two weeks as she waited for her insurance company to tow the vehicle.
Josephine was woken by the sound of an allegedly drunk driver crashing through the gate of her home in Gladstone, Central Queensland.
‘It was late at night when I went to bed and suddenly I heard three huge explosions. So I jumped out of bed, ran here and saw this car in our yard,” she said A current issue on Monday.
It is clear that the driver left the road – possibly as a result of a blown tire – along an embankment and ended up in Josephine’s garden.
He has since been charged with driving under the influence.
A crashed car (pictured) sat in the back garden of Josephine’s Gladstone home for two weeks after an allegedly drunk driver crashed through her gate
Josephine claims that the driver showed great remorse immediately after the crash and promised to pick up the car the next day and repair her gate.
However, the car was left in place for two weeks after the crash, with Josephine becoming increasingly frustrated.
Because the driver did not answer her calls, Josephine turned to the city and her insurer, Honey Insurance, to have the car removed from her property.
Josephine soon discovered that she was not allowed to touch the car because, although it had been written off, it was still owned by the driver and half of it was on municipal land.
‘The police say that the municipality must do that [remove the car]. The municipality should say that the owner must do that. The insurance company says everyone has to do it, not themselves,” Josephine said.
In addition, Josephine said her insurance required her to pay a $1,000 deductible on her claim.
“We didn’t do anything wrong,” she said, questioning why she had to pay the fee.
After two weeks of negotiations with the police and municipality, Josephine’s insurer finally agreed earlier this week to remove the car (photo) and repair her fence.
Honey Insurance told Josephine earlier this week that it would tow the car and repair her fencing.
The company said it could not agree to the car’s removal earlier because the police did not give permission.
It is understood that the insurer has also decided to waive Josephine’s deductible.
“We apologize for any confusion this issue may have caused the customer,” Honey Insurance said.