An absent-minded German driver had his car returned to him 20 years after he forgot where he parked it.

Authorities in Frankfurt found the car in a garage in a building which is set for demolition.

A local resident had phoned the authorities to report the car missing which, after 20 years it had seated rotting in a garage, was deemed unfit to drive.

Police drove the 76-year-old owner to be reunited with his Volkswagen Passat.

The owner thought it had been stolen, Frankfurt authorities said, but it had just been hidden from view and actually exactly where he left it. It was reported stolen back in 1997.

Frankfurt authorities said:“The car can no longer be driven and will be sent to the scrap heap.”

The car had only been discovered because it had been parked in a building which is being renovated.

According to German paper Augsberger Allgemein, the car was getting in the way of building work, so police had to investigate and find out who it belonged to.

There was no word on why the man got so confused in the first place.