A woman who left her car with a BMW garage for three days, only discovered a technician had taken the car home when she was sent a penalty notice.

Laura Philipides took her BMW X1 to Cooper Croydon on November 9, so they could fix a steering defect.

A week later Mrs Philipides received a £120 fine, after her car was captured driving in a bus lane on Addiscombe Road.

When the 63-year-old of St Augustine Road, South Croydon, confronted the Beddington Lane garage, she was told the technician took the car home for overnight testing, but she claims she never gave them permission to do so.

She said: "I was very upset when I found out. No one asked my permission to take the car overnight, and it was very upsetting to find out someone had just taken my car home."

Her son Tristan, 33, complained to Cooper Croydon who offered to pay the fine and pay for half a tank of fuel.

He said: "It is outrageous. If you are handing your vehicle over, you do not expect it to be used in the evening.

"When something worth £40,000 is used without your permission you feel violated.

"It is not like we took the car to a little back street garage, we took it to the proper manufacturers."

A spokesman for Cooper Croydon said: "As is standard procedure when diagnosing faults that are more difficult to identify on a vehicle, an extended road test was agreed with the customer and then undertaken by a Cooper Croydon technician.

"During this road test, the technician inadvertently drove in a bus lane during peak hours and as a result, the vehicle received a fixed penalty notice.

"When this was brought to Cooper Croydon's attention, the fine was paid and a half tank of fuel was offered to apologise for any inconvenience caused.

"We are pleased during the extended road test the technician was able to establish the cause of the problem and this was subsequently fixed."