POLICE are investigating a couple's claim that their brand new car was taken from an airport car park and used for a 60-mile journey while they holidayed in Spain.

Glyn and Tracy Brind say they returned from their week-long trip to find their LandRover splattered with mud, and covered in dents and scratches.

They say the wing mirrors were also broken, there were footprints on the dashboard and a cigarette butt had been thrown on the back seat of the car, parked on the premises of car park operator Carminder 2 at Manchester Airport.

The couple, of Pinfold Avenue, Sherburn-in-Elmet, near Selby, paid the company £32.50 for a week of secure parking before they flew to Salou with their daughter Jade, 11.

Mr Brind, a maintenance supervisor at Sherburn-based Exel, insisted he park his own car, which at the time was only two weeks old.

He parked it, handed over the keys and was told it would not be moved or touched.

But when the couple returned on June 11, the car had been shifted and they claim it was spattered with mud.

Mr Brind, 30, said they were horrified to discover that the electric wing mirrors were not working properly, and believe someone who did not know how to operate them properly had tried to force them by hand.

They also found scratches and dents across the bodywork and noticed there were 143 miles on the clock - 63 more than there should have been.

They had set the clock to zero before leaving home and insist they had only done a maximum of 80 miles when they left it at Carminder 2.

Mr Brind said: "I'm furious. I have worked hard to buy this car and for someone to do this is outrageous."

Mrs Brind, 30, an office worker at Supercook on the Sherburn industrial estate, said: "Words can't describe how angry and upset we are. It completely ruined our holiday.

"We've been in contact with our solicitors and I'm going to write to demand compensation."

PC Mark Dinnis, of Manchester Airport police, said today that the investigation into Mr and Mrs Brind's allegations were on-going and they were speaking to the management at Carminder 2.

He said there had been a number of other alleged incidents of a similar nature, but so far they had not found the perpretrator.

Company spokeswoman Angela Tyreman confirmed the Brinds' car had been moved but insisted it had "absolutely not" been wrongly used by staff.

She said the cigarette butt could have been there when the couple bought the car and the mud could be explained by the fact it was a fairly dusty car park.

Updated: 12:05 Wednesday, June 25, 2003