I am a full time student about to sit my finals. Recently, I was woken by burglars at 2.30am taking all my possessions including my car keys and my car.

Despite the utter shock and trauma this caused me I was very lucky to have the car retrieved only 200 yards from where it was stolen. The only problem was the thieves still had my keys.

The police organised for the car to be collected and stored until a garage would be allocated to change the locks of my car.

Being fully insured, I was given a courtesy car so that I would still be able to study without further inconvenience.

Little did I know that not only was I a victim when those burglars took my car but that I would also be a victim once again to bureaucracy.

After two weeks I was looking forward to returning the courtesy car to Crawley and driving back to Brighton in my own car.

When the gentleman at the car rental firm checked the car, he found three scratches on the roof, possibly from a key, and paintwork damage to the rear bumper by the index plate.

When I initially got the courtesy car, he did not check over the roof and, due to my height, I didn't notice it either.

I was totally unaware of this damage and, as I had signed a contract saying that whatever damage would be incurred while the car was in my care, I would have to pay for it.

To my utter disbelief, I was told this would cost £100.

This would probably not seem much but I had already paid £100 excess for the work on my car. For a student, £200 is a massive sum.

What made it worse was that the car rental firm would not take into consideration that the gentleman may have initially not spotted the scratches.

I feel I could be paying for their incompetence.

God forbid that anyone reading this has their car stolen but if you do and you have a courtesy car, let my story be a warning to you to make sure you scrutinize every inch of that car and get it on paper if you notice any damage, otherwise you could end up being a victim twice too.

-Name and address supplied