Wrong sort of publicity

Mark Oberholtzer received death threats after his old truck was pictured in action on Syria's frontline.

Mark Oberholtzer was horrified when a tweet showing the markings of his company, Mark-1 Plumbing, appeared - complete with his phone number - on a Ford pick-up truck with a black-clad figure firing what appeared to be an anti-aircraft gun on the frontline of Syria's civil war.

The tweet revealed the vehicle, which previously belonged to Oberholtzer, to be in the service of a rebel group calling itself the Muhajireen Brigade.

Now the plumber is suing AutoNation Ford Gulf Freeway for US$1 million ($1.4 million) after claiming that it failed to fulfil its promise to remove his company's logo after he traded in the truck in 2013.

He said his firm in Texas City was swamped with phone calls - many of them accusing him of being a terrorist sympathiser and some containing death threats - when the tweet was posted and widely re-tweeted a year later. Oberholtzer said he was forced to take his family away from the local area for nine days after the photo generated nationwide publicity, and had armed himself in the face of the threats.

He was also questioned by the FBI and the US Department of Homeland Security.

AutoNation says it passed the truck on to another company and had nothing to do with its sale to a militant group.

Oberholtzer's old truck was mockingly portrayed on comedian Stephen Colbert's show, which attracted more than 2.5 million viewers, his highest-ever audience figure.

"Syria, that country is going down the toilet but the first time they know who to call to unclog it," Colbert said, introducing a sketch on the subject. He added: "Yes, a Texas plumber's pick-up truck showed up in Syria ..." Telegraph Group Ltd