Good Samaritan accidentally steals Newport couple's car keys

Conagh Whitelock was driving to pick his partner up from work on Wednesday, June 9, when he spotted the elderly couple at the side of the motorway.

Thinking they were having trouble changing a tyre, he stopped to help.

"They said it was an injector fault on the car and that RAC had already been and left as they couldn’t repair it," he said.

"I asked if they wanted me to quickly double check and inspect with the limited tools I had on me due to it not being my car."

After double checking the vehicle Mr Whitelock discovered that it was not roadworthy.

"I had a quick chat and they told me recovery was on the way," he said.

Mr Whitelock had been in a fairly severe accident while on the hard shoulder and so offered the couple some safety tips.

"I made sure they were okay and due to my accident on the hard shoulder I just wished them luck," he said.

"I said to only go back to the car for anything they desperately need and to stay on the other side of the barrier otherwise."

However, what he didn't realise that, upon driving away, he still had the elderly couple's car keys in his pocket.

"When I got home from the garage I emptied my pockets as always a set of VW keys," he explained.

"I rang the garage I had been in that day to make sure I hadn’t taken a clients' keys and then I remembered.

"My face dropped."

Mr Whitelock phoned RAC, but "as I didn’t have a reg they couldn’t help".

However, help was at hand in the form of social media.

He posted a picture of the keys and the couple's vehicle and a short time later, other users had managed to track down the couple.

"Me and my partner are now going to drop them off Saturday and spend the day in the National Park," he said.

"There aren't many pretty places in west London so we thought if we drop the keys off we know they’re safe and we get a day away which sounds good.

"It’s always nice to know you’ve done what you can to help others."