AN ANDOVER father is demanding justice after his vehicle’s exhaust was ‘destroyed’ by a supermarket car wash.

And Kenneth Blackerby, of Camelot Close, says he has been left to foot the repair bill.

Mr Blackerby visited the car wash at Tesco Extra on River Way on Tuesday, November 15.

He said: “I love Tesco in Andover but while washing my car at Tesco car wash my exhaust was destroyed by the under chassis spray system plate.

“The garage manager came out and admitted that the plate wasn’t mounted back correctly by maintenance.

“I luckily took pictures showing that it was not placed back on its base correctly.

“I felt completely embarrassed because it was pretty bad.

“It was just one of those things, human error, everybody makes mistakes but if you make a mistake that bad you should fix it.”

Originally from Tennessee, Mr Blackerby uses his car to travel to work at a fabrication company in Winchester.

Mr Blackerby, who has a 16-month-old daughter, added: “Having a baby you definitely need a car.

“You never know when they’re going to get sick.”

He filed a damage claim form in store that day and soon received a letter from the company apologising for the damage done to his car while using it.

However the letter, which was dated the day after the incident, also stated the company had looked into the matter and found the car wash was working correctly.

It added they could not help him further.

Talking of how he felt when he received the letter, the 45-yearold said: “I was really upset, really, really upset.

“It may be the American in me, I don’t like being wronged.

“£370 for a muffler fix isn’t anything to them, you just want them to make it right.

“It’s not just about the money, nobody likes spending that money, but when it’s somebody else’s fault you don’t want to have to spend money for their mistake.

“I know the British thing is to be polite but us Americans get mad.”

Mr Blackerby said he was not looking for an apology or more money than the worth of the repair bill, just for them to right their mistake.

A spokesman for Tesco said: “We set ourselves the highest standards for the quality and safety of our car wash service so it is surprising to hear this complaint.

“We are investigating how this incident may have happened and we’ll update Mr Blackerby with our findings.”