A GRANDFATHER was left housebound after vandals destroyed his only means of transport.

Stroke victim Dennis Webb, 74, used his electric buggy to shop for himself and his permanently housebound wife, Shirley.

But when vandals stole the £1,200 machine from outside his Marske home and destroyed it, he lost his independence.

The former steelworker did not insure the buggy after the first year because he deemed the payments of about £120 a year to be too high.

This meant he had no replacement and was dependent on his children making calls to ensure their parents had food and other supplies For two weeks, Mr Webb has been unable to leave home without assistance. But he and his wife are now celebrating after one of their children bought a secondhand electric buggy.

Mr Webb said: "I'd done a bit of shopping and it had clean gone out of my head to put the buggy away when I came in. The next morning it was gone.

"Eventually, the police came back with it but it was battered with all the electric wiring pulled out - a complete write-off.

"There was a time when someone would have called round and said, 'you've left it outside'. You could more or less leave your door open when you went on holiday. But now all that is gone.

"I don't hold out much hope that the police will catch whoever did this. Even if they did they'd probably get a slap on the wrists and not much more."

Mr Webb's son-in-law Phil Boville said: "I hope that whoever did this did not know that my mother-in-law is on a ventilator and they made her husband housebound. This is just wanton vandalism."

Police confirmed the crime was reported on Good Friday. and asked anyone with any information to call (01642) 326326.