STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — A Staten Island woman says the city acted “cruelly” when city Sanitation Department workers towed and scrapped a bright green custom truck — a memorial to her late husband — that had stood for years outside his Brooklyn auto shop.

Maria Stylianou, a Ward Hill resident who runs New Millennium Motors in Gowanus, Brooklyn, said the flower-decorated “mini monster” truck was a tribute to her husband, Andreas Stylianou, a beloved longtime mechanic who was killed in 2019 after being struck by moving vehicles outside the business.

“I was given no warning. They said they tagged it and six hours later they towed it,” Stylianou told Staten Island Advance/SILive.com. “It was towed at 5:24 a.m. Wednesday, April 1, which means it was tagged at 11 p.m. No one was there at 11 p.m., and the shop opens at 8 a.m. They didn’t give us a chance.”

Stylianou said a sanitation spokesperson told her the truck was tagged and removed in accordance with city rules before being taken to a recycling vendor.

“I would have brought it inside the shop if I was warned,” she said. “They said they went by the book. Book or not, the way it was handled was cruel.”

(Courtesy Maria Stylianou)Staten Island resident Maria Stylianou is outraged after sanitation workers towed and scrapped a bright green custom truck that had long served as a memorial to her late husband outside his Brooklyn auto shop. (Courtesy Maria Stylianou)(Courtesy Maria Stylianou)

The last text she received from the city read: “Hello. The car was processed and recycled by NYC Auto Recycling. They’re located at 150-35 Liberty Ave., Jamaica, N.Y.”

Stylianou said the vehicle was removed because it lacked both a license plate and a vehicle identification number, which are required for vehicles parked on public streets.

“This truck was parked on the street with no VIN and no license plate, which is not allowed in any circumstance,” said Vincent Gragnani, a DSNY spokesperson. “We tagged the vehicle and it was removed six hours later, in accordance with the law, and taken to one of our vendors, NYC Auto Recycling. Without a plate or a VIN, there was no way for the city to contact the owner.”

Gragnani said the removal was part of a routine derelict-vehicle operation, which removes thousands of unregistered or abandoned vehicles from city streets each year, often in response to community complaints.

Stylianou said the truck had been parked outside the shop since at least 2019 without issue and was moved only earlier this year to make way for utility work.

“I never expected it would be subject to enforcement,” she said.

(Courtesy Maria Stylianou)Staten Island resident Maria Stylianou is pictured with her late husband, Andreas, on vacation. After his death in 2019, a bright green custom truck served as a memorial to him outside his Brooklyn auto shop. (Courtesy Maria Stylianou)(Courtesy Maria Stylianou)A community fixture

Stylianou said the truck had become a beloved fixture in the neighborhood, drawing steady attention from passersby.

“I wish you knew how much the community loved this car,” she said. “People stopped to take pictures with it all day long.”

The truck was decorated year-round for holidays — a witch’s hat for Halloween, flowers in the spring and a Santa hat during the Christmas season.

“I started decorating it for fun because everybody loved it,” she said. “It became my mascot, my logo. People would come into the shop just to ask about the story behind it.”

(Courtesy Maria Stylianou)Staten Island resident Maria Stylianou is outraged after sanitation workers towed and scrapped a bright green custom truck that had long served as a memorial to her late husband outside his Brooklyn auto shop. (Courtesy Maria Stylianou)(Courtesy Maria Stylianou)A love for mini vehicles

Stylianou said the truck’s origins were tied to her husband’s longtime passion for mini vehicles.

“My husband’s first car was a Mini,” she said. “He brought one from overseas and restored it, and he somehow attracted all the Mini owners in the area.”

The green Mini used for the project belonged to a customer, she said. Stylianou’s husband later mounted it onto an SUV frame, creating what became known around the neighborhood as the “monster mini.”

Neighbors said the customized vehicle became part of the area’s identity. It was one of many creative projects Andreas Stylianou took on during his decades in the auto business after immigrating from Cyprus.

After his death, the street outside the shop was co-named in his honor.

For Stylianou, the loss of the truck remains deeply personal.

“I wanted to fix it up and keep it going,” she said. “It was his car. You can’t replace something like that.”

(Courtesy Maria Stylianou)The “Mini monster truck” was towed on April 1, with no warning during regular busniess hours, after Maria Stylianou had moved the car around the corner to make room for National Grid repairs. (Courtesy Maria Stylianou)(Courtesy Maria Stylianou)(Courtesy Maria Stylianou)The “Mini monster truck” was towed on April 1, with no warning during regular busniess hours, after Maria Stylianou had moved the car around the corner to make room for National Grid repairs. (Courtesy Maria Stylianou)(Courtesy Maria Stylianou)(Courtesy Maria Stylianou)Staten Island resident Maria Stylianou is outraged after sanitation workers towed and scrapped a bright green custom truck that had long served as a memorial to her late husband outside his Brooklyn auto shop. (Courtesy Maria Stylianou)(Courtesy Maria Stylianou)(Courtesy Maria Stylianou)The late Andreas Stylianou is pictured with his three daughters, Helena, left, Christina and Andrea. His wife, Maria Stylianou, is outraged after sanitation workers towed and scrapped a bright green custom truck that had long served as his memorial outside his Brooklyn auto shop. (Courtesy Maria Stylianou)(Courtesy Maria Stylianou)(Courtesy Maria Stylianou)Staten Island resident Maria Stylianou, right, pictured with two of her daughters, is outraged after sanitation workers towed and scrapped a bright green custom truck outside her late husabnd’s Brooklyn auto shop. (Courtesy Maria Stylianou)(Courtesy Maria Stylianou)(Courtesy Maria Stylianou)Stylianou explained the car’s origins: “My husband Andreas’s first car was a Mini — he brought one from overseas and restored it. The green Mini belonged to one of his customers who owns a few, and my husband had an SUV frame and decided to make a monster Mini.” (Courtesy Maria Stylianou)(Courtesy Maria Stylianou)(Courtesy Maria Stylianou)Staten Island resident Maria Stylianou is outraged after sanitation workers towed and scrapped a bright green custom truck that had long served as a memorial to her late husband outside his Brooklyn auto shop. (Courtesy Maria Stylianou)(Courtesy Maria Stylianou)