A much-needed family vehicle was found severely damaged yesterday, leaving a Dunedin mother out of pocket and seeking answers.
Lisa Armishaw, of Green Island, asked son Carlin to get his school bag out of their Honda Odyssey during the morning rush yesterday.
A puzzled child returned without a bag.
The people-mover was missing from the driveway of their rental home in District Rd, where it was last seen at 10pm on Sunday.
Ms Armishaw called police immediately and then posted about her plight on social media, asking people to look out for the vehicle.
The vehicle was desperately needed to transport her four children, among them intellectually disabled son Kiah.
Within minutes, someone posted about seeing a severely damaged people mover upside-down in a ditch in Three Mile Hill Rd.
Ms Armishaw called police to check on the vehicle, who confirmed her worst fears.
She then had to pay $120 to get the uninsured vehicle towed.
''No insurance and four kids.''
A man, who does not want to be named, said he lived near where the crashed Honda was found yesterday.
Two males, aged in their late teens, woke him sometime after midnight yesterday when they knocked on his door.
One of the men appeared to have a broken collarbone and was in pain.
''A bit of bone was dislodged and sticking at an odd angle in his shoulder ... I couldn't ring an ambulance because of the earthquake - I couldn't get through to 111.''
The injured man needed to be helped into his truck.
The men had told him they had crashed their cousin's run-down car, which rolled after failing to negotiate a bend.
After dropping off the men at Dunedin Hospital, he drove to the crash site. The vehicle he saw differed greatly from the one they described, casting doubt on the men's story.
In a statement, a police spokeswoman confirmed the Honda had been stolen and was found in a ditch yesterday.
No-one had been arrested in relation to the theft and police inquiries were ongoing, she said.
