A 62-YEAR-OLD man whose disability vehicle has been targeted five times in less than a month today made a heartfelt plea, saying: "Please leave it alone."

Derek Hargreaves, of Hawksworth Road, Accrington, spoke out after the latest incident on Friday night.

He was having a drink with friends when the police came to tell him the car was in the middle of the road.

Mr Hargreaves, who was born disabled, said the car has also been stolen and left near Accrington's Stanley's Crown Ground, and had been vandalised and moved several times in the last month. He went on: "They might think it is funny, but it is not. It's very upsetting. That car is a lifeline for me. I need it to go to the shops or to my brother's - anywhere. "I can walk with a stick, but I can't get on and off buses, so I need this car. I just wish they would leave it alone. I don't know what else I can do. I don't want any reprisals from this or any trouble. I just want them to leave it alone."

Mr Hargreave's brother Keith, who lives in Orchard Street, Great Harwood, said the pranks had got beyond a joke.

"He's had it pinched and vandalised and I think local youths have targeted him. It is only lightweight so they can probably pick it up to move it and they keep putting it in the middle of the road and up the road outside someone else's house. It's very upsetting."

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