A West Lothian war veteran who was injured in a bomb blast while serving his country has had his specifically designed car vandalised in a mindless attack.
Joe Patterson, 64, was left disabled following the blast after suffering a head and foot injury in 1980 while on a foot patrol in Northern Ireland. Joe served in the Royal Marine for nine years between 1974 and 1983.
Joe, who also suffers from PTSD as a result of his traumatic past, is unable to move his right foot since the incident over 40 years ago, meaning he has to drive a specially-adapted automatic car with a left-foot accelerator.
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However, the Daily Record reports that just days after Christmas, on Wednesday, December 28, the vehicle was covered in glue outside his home in Firbank Grove, East Calder.
The vandalism resulted in hundreds of pounds worth of damage and left Joe without use of his car while it is resprayed.
Speaking to the Record, Joe said: "The fact that someone has gone out of their way to destroy this car is unbelievable. It has made both me and my wife so angry.
"I felt dreadful seeing it destroyed like this. The car is adapted because my right foot doesn't work after I was injured in the bomb blast. We will be without the car while it has to be away to be resprayed."
Since it was reported by Joe, police in West Lothian have launched a probe into the incident. Luckily, a neighbour was able to capture the attack on CCTV but the footage was too blurry for officers to recognise the culprit.
In the meantime cops have taken the container used to douse the glue on top of the car away for DNA testing.
Joe added: "We feel like this is a targeted attack and we are terrified in case they do this again. It's going to cost a lot of money to repair it as they have to strip it right back to the bare metal or replace a whole quarter and respray.
"The rear end quarter has to get a full respray and any plastic has to be replaced. It is insured but we will have to pay the £100 excess.
"Thankfully we can use the vehicle at the moment but I won't have a car while it's being repaired and we can't get a courtesy car as this is specially adapted."
Officers say their enquiries into the incident are ongoing. Anyone with information relating to the crime are urged to contact police on 101.
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: "Enquiries are ongoing following a report of a vandalism to a car parked on Firbank Grove, East Calder, on Wednesday, December 28."
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