A mum has been left furious after her car was 'keyed' in a County Durham play area's car park.

Mum-of-one and NHS worker, Kate Rutherford, 30, from Houghton-le-Spring, was heading home after enjoying a day out with her son at Fun Shack in Seaham on September 24, when she noticed damage to the side of her car.

Ms Rutherford found a line scraped across the whole passenger side of her car, and later discovered a napkin in her driver's handle which read "nice parking, p***k."

She said because of her work with the NHS and role as a single parent, she gets very little time to spend with her son and this incident had left her distressed.

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The Northern Echo:

She said she parked well within the parking bay's lines and was furious someone could do this to another person's property.

She said: "I went to put my son into the car on the passenger side and I noticed someone had run a key up my car door and to the back of my car.

"I was upset about it and annoyed, my little boy was catching on to the fact that it was causing me a bit of distress.

"I put him in the car and tried to forget about, someone had stuffed a paper napkin in my driver's handle.

"At that point, I got really upset and started crying. You don't expect it anywhere but especially a child soft play centre, I'm bending over backwards to survive as it is.

"I have two days of the week I can truly spend with my son, no distractions, no work, no studying, and this is what happened to me."

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The Northern Echo:

She said the damage will cost her between £200 to £300 in repairs and that she was unsure where she would find this extra money.

A Durham Police spokesperson said: "Police were alerted to a criminal damage incident in which a car is said to have been damaged at the car park of Fun Shack, in Seaham.

"The incident is believed to have happened sometime between 11am and 12.40pm on Sunday, September 24."

Ms Rutherford said she informed staff of the incident and claims she was told by a staff member that this type of incident had been happening in the area.

She said she had asked the play centre staff for CCTV of the incident and also claimed staff had been rude to her when she made her complaint.

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The Northern Echo:

A spokesperson for Fun Shack in Seaham denied the claims and said CCTV covering the car parking areas was reviewed and staff were unable to identify the point at which the vandalism occurred due to the camera angle.

They said Ms Rutherford was informed at the time of the report staff would review the footage on Monday (September 25).

The company said they had discussed the matter with police and that this was an "isolated incident."