A mum today hit out at joyriders who stole and set light to her daughter's car before she even had the chance to drive it.

Barbara Roberts, of Champlain Avenue, Canvey, has been comforting 19-year-old Hayley, who bought the red Nissan Micra for when she passes her driving test.

Disgust - Barbara Roberts with a photo of her daughter's car Picture: ROBIN WOOSEY

However, thieves stole the car from outside her parents' house and drove it to the nearby playing fields at Waterside Farm sports centre where they set it on fire.

Mrs Roberts, 43, who lives with her husband David, together with Hayley, daughter Shelley, 17, and nine-year-old son Andrew, said they had all been left shell-shocked by the incident.

She said: "It makes me so mad to think these young joyriders just took Hayley's car without a thought to how it would affect her.

"There has been a spate of vandalism on cars in the streets surrounding where we live."

Published Monday, February 24, 2003

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