A tale of derring-do set in leafy, downtown Redditch as Maureen Parker, aged 72, tells John how she reacted when someone tried to steal her car...

Maureen Parker

Maureen's adventure took place in the rather inauspicious setting of Sainsbury's carpark, some three weeks ago. She'd just done her weekly shopping and was putting it into her boot, when a young man brushed past her. "I realised he was up to something, and he jumped into my car".

Maureen's keys were in the ignition to save having to lock and unlock the car twice. She hadn't really thought twice about this, particularly as she was only a couple of feet away from the keys. "When he jumped in for a minute I thought what the dickens is going on. Then I jumped in the back seat".

The man shouted at Maureen to get out of the car, and Maureen remembers them making eye contact in the rear-view mirror. "I don't think I'll ever forget his eyes, and his snarling. He really worked on his snarl I think". The police told her later that she had probably unnerved the man, who was presumably not used to being challenged by his victims. Maureen feels now, looking back, that what she did was a gut reaction : "I just did it because it was mine and he was trying to pinch it".

The thief continued to snarl and shout and had started to drive away. She refused to get out of the car, reasoning that if she stayed with the car she'd have a better chance of getting rid of the thief. As she was driven along by the thief she hoped he might be prompted to just give up the whole enterprise. When she said to him 'you don't want to do this really' he responded by saying 'what are you worried about, you're insured'.

When they arrived at the traffic island Maureen threw open the back door and screamed and shouted, and several people rang the police to say that a woman was being kidnapped. Ironic really - the man was trying desperately to get rid of Maureen not kidnap her!

Maureen told the man that he'd better give her the keys or she wouldn't be able to get into her house, and, amazingly, he somehow managed to extricate her house keys from the key ring whilst he was driving along. He kept shouting at Maureen to get out of the car, and she eventually bargained with him that she'd get out if he gave her her handbag, which was on the front seat of the car. Her main worry was that he would drive her somewhere and beat her up.

Having recovered her handbag Maureen did get out of the car. It seemed like the whole experience had taken hours, but Maureen realised it must only have taken about ten minutes - a very frightening ten minutes. "The police did say I shouldn't have done it, but one of their spokesmen said that I'd inspired them. I know really I shouldn't have done it, but I was so angry".