Ken Mackness found himself eating humble pie after a Facebook group he’d been mocking reunited him with his car.

The 35-year-old was telling dinner guests he’d recently joined the Eden Village Residents’ site and how a message about a lost tortoise had made him laugh when his mobile phone went off.

When he looked at it he saw it was a notification for a posting on the group which read: “Has anyone lost a Peugeot?”

He realised his Peugeot 407 hadn’t been delivered to his home by the garage which had carried out some work on it.

It soon dawned on him that the vehicle was probably his.

He said: “There I was complaining about how idiotic everyone else is and I shamefully had to say it was mine.”

It turns out the keys had been put through the letter box and the car parked on the driveway of Tim Handy’s property in Lily Walk, just 500 yards away from Mr Mackness’s flat in Marigold Drive.

Both properties have the same door number.

He said: “I put the car in on August 30 and didn’t have the means to pick it up when it was due back last Wednesday and as they offer a free return service I thought I’d take advantage of it.

“My partner Jo and I were entertaining that night and by the time our guests got to ours it still hadn’t arrived. I kept looking out the kitchen window when I went to get someone a glass of wine but I couldn’t see it.

“They said they’d drop it off between 5pm and 7pm, they didn’t give me an exact time so I wasn’t too worried.

“Eden Village is a bit of a rabbit warren, some of the houses back onto roads and have their fronts facing the other way, some are blocks of flats.

"I just assumed the car would be downstairs and the keys in the letterbox.

“The irony is the man who posted the message at about 9pm was called Tim Handy and he really was.

“I told him the registration plate then walked round there and knocked on his door shame faced and picked it up.

“I got some ribbing from the guests when I returned.

“I’m pleased I got the car back but I felt like a bit of an idiot saying ‘it’s mine’. I know it wasn’t my fault but other people don’t know that.”