UK car owner to move his ivy-covered car after 15 years in the same spot

A car owner says he’s finally planning to move his ivy-covered Ford Escort after he left it in the same parking spot - for more than 15 years.

Tim Ward said he left his red motor, which dates back to the late 1990s, in a space he owns outside his former family home in Wilsden, Bradford, in 2005 or 2006.

But since then, he hasn’t touched the vehicle and only small sections of it are now visible after it became encased in ivy over the last three years.

The doting son explained he was asked to leave the car there by his mother, who lived at the house opposite, for sentimental and security reasons after he moved out.

But it had remained there since she passed away in 2016, and he had struggled to remove it due to the emotional attachment it had to his late mum.

Tim said: “The car has been there since 2005 or 2006. It just kind of stayed there. Over the years my mum cleaned it of branches and started it up occasionally.

“The numberplate on it was more valuable than the car. After my mum died, I did not have the heart to move it.

He added: “It did not become overgrown until my mum passed away. Over the last two or three years, it has become overgrown.

“It’s not laziness why we haven’t taken it away, it was the emotional side.”

Tim said the overgrown Ford had become a local "landmark”, and explained that he had considered turning it into a coffee shop at one point.

He said: “It’s got more and more overgrown. I wanted to try to turn it into a coffee bar at one point, because of the interest in it.

“It’s a landmark almost. It was a parking space for the house originally.

“It’s not an eyesore anymore as it’s disappeared. It has become a bit of a joke with my neighbours.

Tim said six years on from his mum’s death, he was now finally ready to move the stricken Ford, which he plans to extract from the ivy by the end of April.

He said: “My mum valued it being there so much, so it has been too hard to take it away before now. It’s just been quite emotional to do that.

“It’s got to go. I will get rid of it by the end of April. Enough time has gone now. It has just been too emotional for me to take the car away before.”