There’s a New Lead in the Famous Car Park Attendant Scam Case — Around $8.7 Million Are at Stake

From Bristol to the Costa Brava, the incredible adventures of Emmett Williams

Back in 2021, many people became green with envy when they learned about this scam. I certainly was one of them.

To revisit the case quickly, a Bristol-based man had pretended to be a car park attendant for 20 years and made around $8 million from his “job.” Every day, he came to the Bristol Zoo’s parking, set up his sign, and took £3.00 from each car. People thought it was cheap and were happy to find such a good deal. The fake attendant knew the parking was free and enjoyed the easy money.

You could say it was a win/win.

As one expected, the case sparked controversy, with Labour voters calling him a Robin Hood of the modern world and Conservatives demanding he be arrested and forced into an Amazon warehouse until he could give back all the stolen money.

But the man had disappeared faster than Speedy Gonzales when he got discovered. Amateurs shared countless theories online, but the most serious investigators suspected he had fled to Spain’s Costa Brava and enjoyed retirement there.

Three years later, there’s a new lead

Last February, Emmet Williams checked in Girona’s main hospital for a routine full-body examination, as he had turned 65 a few weeks prior. In Spain, the checklist includes a tomographic scan of the brain to detect potential tumors.

There were no tumors, but the size of the man’s hippocampus was abnormal.

It was twice the usual size. It’s a (very) rare case observed only in professional scammers (so far). The hospital staff was surprised as there was no way this always polite English retiree everybody knew around there could be a scammer.

However, the staff followed procedure and reported the case to the national database, which raised a few red flags and triggered an investigation on-site.

Two high-level carabinieri were sent from Madrid to investigate. They looked for Emmet Williams, of course, but couldn’t find him. He had disappeared, and that didn’t make him look innocent anymore.

A dam had opened.

Suddenly, dozens of people came forward and told the inspectors that Emmet Williams owed them from a few hundred euros to a few thousand. They all thought he was a paragon of honesty about to get money from the sale of several parking places (!!!) back in the UK.

From what Lieutenant Diego Ibañez and Captain Raul Escobar declared last week, the investigation is quickly moving forward, and they hope to catch Emmet Williams (if it’s even his real name) in the coming days.

I wouldn’t be so optimistic, but we shall see if the grass is greener in Spain and its investigators are more talented than our own in Bristol.

To learn more about the car park attendant’s scam, I recommend this investigative piece by Uvebruce.