A teenager who parked his car on the wrong driveway while working at the Grand National was left devastated to discover it had been trashed by the time he returned - thanks to an angry Facebook mob.
Jack Kavanagh had driven from London to Aintree, in Liverpool, to work behind a bar for the big race.
Before he set off, the 18-year-old arranged to park his car - which he had owned for just three weeks - on a driveway in Liverpool for £5.
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However, he was unaware that the street changed names halfway down leading the teen to unwittingly park his car on the wrong driveway.
An angry post appeared on a resident's Facebook page later that day, ranting that an 'ignorant bastard' had dumped a car on her drive and appealing for the public to share it.
After the post went viral, hundreds of riled commenters began ranting that the homeowner should block the car in, superglue the doors, let down the tyres, push the vehicle away or even break the windows.
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Some even suggested tampering with the engine by pushing a tube down the exhaust and filling it with expanding foam.
By the time Jack returned to his car at around 6pm that night, he claims to have found it with an angry note superglued to the windscreen, two tyres let down, scratches down the sides and his car badge torn off.
The foul-mouthed note read: "Don't ever park on my driveway again you cheeky bastard."
Jack said: "I was confused and bewildered as to what could have happened.
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"I thought I was able to park on this drive and instantly got in contact with the correct property who were mortified that this had happened.
"[I was] upset and furious that someone would do such a thing to my car.
"I only recently bought this car three weeks ago, so to have marks down the side is very annoying as I have been driving it like a princess."
Jack's dad, Steve Kavanagh, 49, pointed out that there appeared to be no damage to the car in the photos shared in the Facebook rant and that it was fine when Jack left it.
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Steve, from Havering in London, said: "Jack made a mistake by parking on the wrong drive. But trashing his car doesn't make it right.
"He parked on the right number house, but unknown to him the road had changed names halfway down so the house he was supposed to park on was only matter of metres away.
"He should have knocked on the door to confirm it was the right house. He has learned a massive lesson for that error but he should not have had that happen.
"I would expect someone to shout at him for parking on the wrong drive. But what has happened instead is really quite upsetting. Whoever did this should know it is criminal damage.
"Some people have tried to claim that his car was probably damaged already, however you can see in the original photos posted of his car in the woman's rant that this damage was not there."
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Jack was so upset by the incident that he did not go to work the next day and lost out on even more money from the 500-mile round trip.
Steve said: "As a young lad he took the initiative to get work. He had to drive up from London to Aintree and it was for minimum wage so he was not going to make a lot of money anyway.
"But he wanted to do it for the work experience and because he's the kind of lad who likes to get out there and be proactive.
"However in the end the whole thing has ended up costing him hundreds in petrol and damage to his car.
"There were two tyres let down to stop him just taking out his spare and using that. So he had to phone the RAC.
"Hopefully this won't affect Jack too much but things like this can damage young people.
"I know whoever did it won't know the background about what went on but there is still no need to do damage like that.
"The whole thing could have been resolved quite easily. Whoever did this could hold their hands up and pay for the damage and that would be it.
"Jack has already apologised on social media for parking in the wrong drive. He knows he made a mistake. But he deserves an apology for what has happened to him.
"The lady whose house Jack was supposed to park on was very upset for him and she helped him phone the RAC to come and fix his tyres.
"She looked after him as he was a long way from home and very angry and shocked about what had happened."
One Facebook commenter wrote: "Jack it up, remove wheels from car, put wheels under car, let jack down. Then go away for the weekend."
Another said: "Block them in with a friends car then tell them they owe you 150 quid and refuse to move it until they pay."
Meanwhile one vitriolic commenter said: "Can of expanding foam with long application tube - push it as far as you can down the exhaust and fill it up so it does not show on the outside.
"It will start and cut out and keep doing this - garage will charge them a fortune to diagnose the issue as they wont be able to find it easily - also no evidence visible of any tampering."
Merseyside Police said the incident had been reported to the at around 7.45pm on Friday and that it was reported to them that the damage was believed to have occurred between 8.40am and 6.40pm.
A spokesman said: "The allegation is criminal damage to a Volkswagon Polo. The incident is under investigation.
"However at this stage there are no witnesses or CCTV so there is nothing evidentially at the minute [to go on]."
Featured Image Credit: Kennedy News and MediaTopics: Work, Liverpool, Teenager, Car, Community, UK, Cars