A young driver whose car was stolen in the middle of the night was stunned to discover it had been filled with a full tank of petrol before it was abandoned.
Matilda McKay was woken by her mum screaming in their Ulladulla home on the NSW South Coast shortly before 2am.
‘I went to bed sleeping peacefully and at 1.50am, I heard my mum yelling “wake up Tilly, your car’s getting stolen”,’ she said in a TikTok video.
‘I woke up and heard my car screech around and drive off.’
Ms McKay then tried to chase the vehicle in her mum’s car.
‘We’re trying to chase a stolen car and my mum was going 50km/h,’ she said.
‘I was like “let me drive”, but she wouldn’t. My mum started telling me my car was being burnt right now and that I was never going to get it back.’
The pair called triple-zero, but the reporting process was delayed until 4am due to technical difficulties police were experiencing.
A driver has woken in the middle of the night to the sound of teenagers stealing her nearly empty car before finding it abandoned on a nearby street hours later with its fuel refilled
Ms McKay posted a photo of her car on Facebook to see if there were any sightings before finally going to bed about 5.30am.
But she was woken just 30 minutes later by her dad, who told her someone had commented on the post saying her car was parked on a street nearby.
‘There was a full tank of fuel. We’re just in shock. My car was stolen for four hours and it’s got a full tank of fuel. And I got it back with everything in it,’ she said.
Ms McKay, who admitted she doesn’t lock her car and leaves the keys in the ignition, didn’t immediately notice her tank had been refilled.
But she had been locking her car in the days before it was stolen, after getting a gut feeling that something bad was going to happen.
She later saw footage of two teenage boys and a teenage girl getting into her vehicle and driving away like they were in ‘Grand Theft Auto’.
Many Aussies said they were amazed the car had been refuelled.
‘Honestly with these fuel prices, thank you for your services,’ one said.
Many Aussies said they were amazed the car had been filled up with petrol (pictured, a stock image of Ulladulla on the NSW South Coast)
‘The full tank of fuel is baffling me,’ another said.
‘I’m so sorry, but this is hilarious,’ a third said. ‘I’m glad you got your car back fine with fuel, but must have been traumatic at the time.’
‘I’d take the full tank,’ a fourth said.
