Police ticketed car as owner lay dead inside

Police in New York repeatedly ticketed an illegally parked minivan for weeks before noticing that its occupant was dead, the deceased man's daughter has claimed.

The body of George Morales was discovered on Wednesday after a city marshal attempted to tow the vehicle away from underneath a flyover in the city's Queens district.

Jennifer Morales told the New York Daily News that she last spoke to her 59-year-old father in early May. She believes that he may have died from a heart attack while sitting in the family's Chevrolet Ventura.

When the vehicle was towed away a number of summonses were left on the windscreen.

Ms Morales told the Daily News: "The window was cracked open. I don't understand how no-one noticed him. They just gave him tickets."

The grieving daughter said she had contacted the authorities about her father's disappearance, but police say they have no report on record.

NYPD said today they were looking into Ms Morales' allegations. A spokesman for the police department added: "When we do a summons on a car we do not inspect its contents."