A COUPLE are appealing for witnesses after returning from a walk to find their car ‘shattered to bits'.

Linda McClean and husband Jim McClean, from Swarthmoor, parked their Audi saloon at their usual spot in Canal Foot carpark in Ulverston on Tuesday morning.

The pair went for an hour and a half walk around Canal Foot before returning to the car park and finding their vehicle ‘smashed up’.

Mrs McClean said: “At first we just noticed one wing mirror was smashed and thought someone just parked too close.

“Then we noticed the windscreen and couldn’t believe it. There was a huge dent in the middle and both wing mirrors were shattered. It was definitely intentional because both wing mirrors had been hit twice.”

Mrs McClean said her and her husband both felt ‘angry’ when they discovered the significant damage to the couple’s only car.

“We felt angry, we couldn’t believe someone would do this,” she said. “We took it to the garage and had to pay £245 for our insurance excess and we’ll have to pay for a new windscreen so it could be up to a £1,000.

“It doesn’t seem right that we have to spend all this money when all we did was park our car in what we thought was a safe and secure car park.”

Mrs McClean said others have come forward claiming their car was vandalised at the car park within the past month.

“There’s at least two more people I know of who have had their wing mirrors smashed there,” she said.

“So it could be a serious problem going on. I think CCTV needs to be installed to make drivers feel safe leaving their cars.”

Mrs McClean said the incident had made the couple ‘very wary’.

“It’s sad because we’ve been going there years," she said. “I’d like to see whoever did this caught and reprimanded.”

Police are investigating. The incident is believed to have occurred between 11.30am and 12:45pm.

Anyone with information is encouraged to call police on 101.