THE wheel seems to have come off justice in the case of car-owner Carole Shrubb -- who ended up with a bill for more than her car was worth in order to get it back after it was stolen.

All right, it was only a B-reg Vauxhall Nova with more than 120,000 miles. But it was a runner and it was hers.

Yet she had to pay £105 to truly make it hers again once it ended up in police custody for fingerprinting when it was abandoned after being stolen and in a police chase through Blackburn town centre.

Why so? Police say their policy is to properly examine cars involved in crime and "unfortunately" that incurs costs -- in this case £105 recovery charges by a Blackburn garage which was called in.

Mrs Shrubb didn't call them in. The police did.

So why should she, or any victim of crime, be made to pay for, in effect, helping the police with their inquiries?

From what the force says, it seems car owners have no option in such cases. I'd say they have -- that of writing to Home Secretary Jack Straw and asking him how the Dickens he expects people to co-operate with the police when they can end up being as good as fined for doing so.