A stolen car was found by a member of the public after the owner shared a lost car post on social media.

Matt Hawley’s family home on Doe Royd Lane in Sheffield was burgled just after 2am on Wednesday 3 March, 2021. The burglars entered the house through the back barn door window, whilst the family was sleeping and stole the keys to Hawley’s Audi.

Mr Hawley said: “My family are devastated to be honest, if they had just pinched the car that would have been fine, but the fact they entered our house while we were sleeping is a different sort of unrest.”

The car was driven to a nearby petrol station, then parked up not far from the family home where all Hawley’s belongings were dumped out of the car. The cars whereabouts from there aren’t known until it was found by a Sheffield resident who had seen Hawley’s Facebook post.

Mr Hawley posted about his stolen Audi on Facebook, in a group called ‘Sheffield Online’ and the post was shared over 900 times. Because of the cars social media presence it was shortly found by a member of the public, after only 2 days. The car was spotted tucked away in a housing estate in Shirecliffe, but the cars number plates had been changed.

Mr Hawley said: “I was contacted about a car which had shown up on someones street, I then decided to drive past the found car to see if it was mine. The number plates were different so I used my spare key to check if I could open it, which I could.”

The police have since recovered the car and are investigating further into the burglary. Mr Hawley is grateful for the power of social media and Sheffield residents for finding his car but after what has happened and how the car was drove he doesn’t want the car back. He is now waiting to hear from the police and his insurance for more information.