An Aussie woman has been left distraught after finding her campervan had been stripped and sold to a spare parts car yard.
Alisha Manning, a hospitality worker, was “living the dream” by travelling along the scenic NSW central coast in her van, a Mitsubishi Delica that she named Dahlia the Delica.
She called the van home for four years as she camped around the coast and picked up work where could, noting that the happiest memories of her life were spent in the van.
However, life quickly turned upside down when couldn’t find her beloved Dahlia after having worked and stayed in a hotel in Newcastle over the holiday period in December.
Ms Manning parked her registered van on a quiet street but when she returned to collect it — it wasn’t’ there. She wasn’t too alarmed, thinking someone may have called the council to remove it.
However, when she discovered the council didn’t have it, nor the police, she grew worried and began to doorknock neighbours in the area with one woman telling her a truck had come and picked it up.
“The lady told me that the day beforehand, a company truck had come and picked it up and she told me part of the company name was on the side of the truck,” Ms Manning A Current Affair.
She was relieved to find her van at ABCM Spare Parts in Newcastle, but it quickly turned into shock and disbelief after seeing it had been fully stripped for parts.
“It is completely and utterly destroyed every window is smashed all of my property is gone, a $350 tent, my stove,” she told the program.
“They destroyed my entire life, lost me every single thing I have.”
The spare parts business allegedly told Ms Manning it had been contacted by the “owner” who was looking to sell.
It also claimed the tow truck driver had sighted the key on pick up.
It left Ms Manning furious, insisting she was still in possession of the only set of keys to the van.
“Look at what they did to my dream,” she told A Current Affair, as cameras followed her to the van.
“They’ve further damaged it, look at what they’ve done to the roof, they’ve smashed it up more.”
During their visit to check the condition of the van, Ms Manning and the program were confronted by a worker who asked them to leave.
The unnamed worked claimed he had no idea where the van came from but that his manager would have more answers.
When Ms Manning asked him to call the manager, he refused. The worker also allegedly told the program it wasn’t normal for the company to pick cars up from the street.
“We have a process … every car we buy, we’ve got the customer details, we’ve got the registration,” the worker said.
The matter is now with the police who are investigating the alleged fraudulent sale of the car to that spare parts business and Ms Manning is pursuing civil action.
“I’m not willing to turn around and say its over, (to say) there’s the end of my dream and travels, because someone did a lousy thing to me,” Ms Manning said.