Katie Scott, from Salford, Greater Manchester, discovered her father Arthur Scott, who died from complications of kidney failure, has been immortalised on Google Street View
A woman was left in tears after spotting her late father sat in his favourite spot on Google Street View – 11 years after he died.
Katie Scott, 49, found Arthur Scott had been immortalised on the search engine’s 360 imagery this month. Arthur passed away in 2013, aged 83, after being diagnosed with stage-three kidney failure. In the Google image, captured in 2009, Arthur can be seen sat on the bench outside his home where he used to enjoy soaking up the sun. In another photo, his German Shepherd, Elsa, is spotted wandering into the house. Elsa passed away four years before Arthur.
Speaking today, Katie, from Salford, Greater Manchester, said: “When I found the image, I was so emotional. I cried when I found it. All those memories came flooding back. That was his favourite spot. As soon as the sun came out, he was on that bench. It was upsetting but I was happy. I don’t have many photos of my dad, but we were very close. I’ve screenshotted it so I can see him all the time.”
Arthur was diagnosed with kidney failure in 2008. Katie moved into his council house with him and became his full-time carer. The 49-year-old woman continued: “When he was diagnosed, we were told that he’d only have a few years left so I moved in with him to look after him.
“He managed to live another five years. It was a shock when he was diagnosed and it heartbreaking to think about losing him. He was so funny. He had a brilliant sense of humour and our relationship was mostly based on humour. It’s been hard living without him.”
Katie first discovered the image of Arthur just after he passed away. She was “heartbroken” when Google updated the image shortly after and thought it was lost forever.
Last month, though, she learned that she could access older Google Street View images. She added: “Just after he passed away, we were looking through old photos and we looked at the house on Google Maps and there he was.
“I looked at it a lot. When it got updated, I was heartbroken thinking I’d never see it again. I was still grieving. I found out on TikTok that you can look at older photos and it was lovely to see him again.”
