For Richard Mccarthy it was the worse thing that could have happened.
The Hermes driver was out on his parcel delivery round when he stopped at Chapel Haddlesey.
He got out of his van to give a customer their package, their front door opened onto the road, just 10 feet from his van.
In a split second a car pulled up, one person jumped out, got into Richard’s van and sped off.
Richard told YorkMix as a self employed man, losing his van like that meant his world fell apart at the roadside as his means of making a living disappeared.
But he hadn’t reckoned on the power of groups like Save Our Selby on Facebook and eagle-eyed witnesses who had already got a registration number.
A picture of the van was flashed around the internet and Richard’s family went out to look for it. Soon it was spotted in West Haddlesey on the village CCTV system going down a lane to an old farm. There it was discovered abandoned with only the keys missing. It wasn’t damaged and all the parcels were still inside which Richard says he will deliver tomorrow.
He told YorkMix he was so grateful to everyone who kept their eyes opened, took details down and shared the appeal on social media sites. Without that help he would have suffered a serious blow to his ablity to make a living.