A woman was amazed to be presented with a £189 bill after joyriders stole her black cab and drove it the wrong way up a slip road on the A3 before crashing and fleeing the scene.

"Doris the Wondercab" had been specially-decorated by its owner Anna Osborne to take her daughter Leyla, seven, and a group of her friends out trick or treating. But Doris was stolen from Tolworth Broadway while the family was enjoying a Halloween party.

Ms Osborne, 29, a dog trainer and rescuer, of Tolworth Broadway, said she only found out Doris had been recovered when she was landed with a £189 bill for recovery and storage of the vehicle - a week after Doris was written off on the A3 in New Malden.

She said: "The police didn't tell me anything until the bill from the removal company came on Saturday. Kingston police have been very helpful but the Comet has done more to help find Doris to be honest."

Police told Ms Osborne that Doris was driven the wrong way up a slip road on the A3 at 3am on October 3, crashing so hard into a lamppost that the floor of the cab collapsed. It is believed the offenders fled the scene on foot and have not been arrested.

"Taxis are built like German tanks," said Ms Osborne, "if anyone had been driving up that slip road they would all have been killed."

Ms Osborne bought the decommissioned 20-year-old vintage cab in January and used her to ferry rescue dogs to foster homes.

"I'm too upset to go and see her and see what they've done - it's not the same without Doris," she said.

"I don't know how I am going to tell my daughter, she has been inconsolable since Doris was stolen and she's terrified that people are going to steal a new car we get with her in it."

Ms Osborne is going to look at another cab in Chessington but said that Doris is "irreplaceable".

"There will be another cab, but not another Doris," she said.

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