A DISABLED man has told thieves 'you're taking my life away' - after having two wheelchairs stolen in just five months.

Martin Craig, who suffers from the degenerative condition cerebellar ataxia, said: "I’m dumbfounded as to how people can be so stupid and not realise they’re taking my life away. That’s how I get around so it’s impacting everything I do now."

The 29-year-old, from Brandon, County Durham, had his first wheelchair stolen from the driveway of his home on Christmas Eve while out picking up presents for his three-year-old son Ethan.

He needs the wheelchair to get from the house to his car, but is unable to put it in the car by himself, so regularly left it on the drive.

But he returned two hours later to find it gone.

The wheelchair clinic agreed to provide a second made-to-measure chair, which arrived in March, but it too was stolen from the yard of his house on May 8 after he went out for Sunday lunch.

"I can’t leave the wheelchair outside so I’ve been struggling to use the handrail to get out to the car but I’ve fallen over a couple of times, even though it’s only ten feet. I don’t want to go out just in case it happens again because if it does nobody else has another chair I can use so I would be completely stuck.”

"I don't know if I'm being targeted but I haven't upset anyone - we keep ourselves to ourselves. If you asked me before Christmas about living here I would have recommended anyone to live here but now I can't wait to get out. I have to stay because there's nowhere that's wheelchair friendly."

Cerebellar ataxia is a degenerative condition which affects balance – making walking difficult. Mr Craig has had it since birth and has needed a wheelchair for around five years.

He's been using his grandfather’s old wheelchair since the second theft, but it is heavy and is not a proper fit.

“This one is my dead granddad’s which isn’t very nice to think about either. He was a bigger build than me so I’m wobbling about. I have longer legs as well which means I don’t have the same support.

“I don’t have a foot support either so if we’re out anywhere I just have to pull my legs up which isn’t very comfortable.

“The wheelchair clinic said they couldn’t give me a third one because it might happen again and I don’t blame them.”

A new wheelchair will cost £606 and friends and family have so far raised around £200. He has launched a Go Fund Me page to try and raise the remaining money at www.gofundme.com/238zu7tz

Both thefts were reported to police who are investigating.