A cabbie is in debt after claiming repeated blunders made by a car firm meant his vehicle was off the road for months.

Kevin Sampson said his Mitsubishi L400 was off the road for about five months after Holmes, Williams and Purvey (HWP) took ages to get in new parts and then gave the new parts to another customer while his vehicle remained in the garage.

However he lost a court case for damages claiming the firm damaged his vehicle with Magistrate William Francis pointing out that the firm had slashed his bill by 50 percent.

Mr. Sampson said the firm was now pursuing him for some $1,800 but claimed the work was not done properly and he had to go back to get it fixed again.

Mr. Sampson said the loss of earnings meant he had to renegotiate his home mortgage and sell shares to pay back the bank loan for the taxi of around $1,680 while the cab was off the road.

He said all his earnings from his day job as a postman went to paying back debts built up because he could not do the nighttime taxi work.

He said: "I was making $3,000 to $4,000 a month with the taxi. My credit card was maxed out. I had no income as far as the taxi was concerned."

But the court said HWP was not to blame for delays in shipping the spare parts.

Last night HWP president Jonathan Brewin said: "In view of the fact that there is a court case in process regarding other outstanding monies it would be inappropriate to comment at the present time."