It can happen to the best of us: forgetting where you parked your car. But that has now been more than a week for the Mertens family from Rosmalen. Father Rien can no longer remember where he parked the car and has now lost it for ten days. Since then, family members and friends have been combing all over Utrecht in search of their white Nissan Evalia.
Rien Mertens left for Utrecht by car from his hometown of Rosmalen on Thursday morning, April 18. He parked his car there and cycled to an appointment in the city center, his son Evan Mertens told RTV Utrecht. His father often does this to save on high parking costs in the center.
After his appointment, Rien cycled back, but he could no longer remember where he had parked his car. “My father’s short-term memory is declining,” Evan explains. “But it is the first time he has not been able to find the car.”
Now Evan has been looking for the car with his family and friends for ten days. It is probably parked somewhere south of Utrecht or in the north of Nieuwegein. All the family knows is that Rien cycled seven kilometers to the center of Utrecht. They can see that on the odometer of his bicycle. The car is not at a charging station and Google Maps and Nissan’s internal system are not connected.
To keep an overview, Evan has created an online map. “We color in everywhere we have looked on the map. This way we hope to fill the ticket quickly and find the car.” Evan also made a Facebook appeal. It has already been shared more than seven hundred times and the responses are also pouring in.
Friends and family of Rien have now searched in the Kanaleneiland, Westraven and parts of Hoograven. The purple spots have been searched, and the family expects that the car can be parked at the orange markers on the map.
The missing car does not bother the Mertens family. “You think: it’s just a car. But my parents are very stressed about this. And the more stress, the worse the memory becomes. So this doesn’t help.” Evan calls on people to report if they see the white Nissan Evalia with license plate S-367-VK parked.
