Thieves steal cars from Southampton mobility charity

The charity only has one mobility car left since the break-in

A charity has told of its "disappointment" after discovering thieves had stolen its fleet of mobility cars.

Wessex DriveAbility said five cars were stolen from its headquarters in Kent Road, Southampton, in the early hours of Tuesday.

Hampshire Constabulary said it was investigating the thefts.

The cars are used to assess and help disabled drivers looking to get on back on the road in modified cars.

Centre manager Rachel Odell said the break-in was diappointing

Rachel Odell, Wessex DriveAbility centre manager, explained staff had arrived on Tuesday morning to find four adapted cars and one standard car missing.

She said: "We have a fleet normally of 11 vehicles, five of which have gone. So half of the fleet has disappeared.

"And in terms of the vehicles that have adaptations, we really have pretty much nothing left...

"What we try to do on an assessment is show people a variety of options so one car alone is not suitable... we need to be able to show them potentially three or four different vehicles."

Ms Odell said she felt "disappointed" the charity has been targeted for its mobility vehicles, which she said there had been no sightings of since they disappeared.

"At the moment we can't offer any adaptation assessments whatsoever... we've had to cancel people," she said.

"They've been very understanding but it doesn't help them because they're desperate for their assessment so that they can get back on the road themselves."