A family has been overwhelmed by support after vandals smashed a nurse's car that she uses to visit patients.
A fundraising campaign was set up to help Sunderland nurse Sylvia Hunter, 59, who discovered the windows of her red Skoda car had been smashed.
Sylvia, of Farringdon, is a practice nurse for a local GP surgery and carries out home visits for the elderly and vulnerable who are unable to leave their homes during the coronavirus lockdown.
But the damage meant she was unable to go to work to help those in need and had to tell her work she could no longer carry out the visits.
With the damage valued at around £500, her granddaughter, Adelle Turner set up a fundraising campaign which has now been exceeded by £1,264.
Adelle, 21, said the repairs were also being carried out on her nana’s car, thanks to local companies donating their services free of charge.
She said: “When we set up this fundraiser for £250 as a little goodwill gesture for nana, I didn’t think it would get to the top end of £1,200.
“It is really great, and overwhelming, it is not what we expected and people have been reaching out with messages on social media.
“My nana is really overwhelmed. She was really frustrated and angry at what had happened because she couldn’t go out and help the elderly people in their homes who aren’t able to get to the GP.”
After publishing the fundraising campaign, Sylvia was able to rent a car through Enterprise for £5 per day to get her back on the road, with Autoglass getting in touch to repair the damaged window.
A garage in Washington also reached out to repair the damaged body work.
Adelle said: “My nana should have her car back by Thursday. They have carried out the repairs for free so all the money will be donated to charity.”
