A CARE worker's car has had to be written off after thieves stole all four wheels, leaving it up on breeze blocks.

Paul Ferguson of Queens Road, Malvern Link, came out of his house at about 6.30am on Tuesday to find the wheels missing off his T-reg Ford Escort.

The car had slipped forward off the breeze blocks, damaging the front bumper and the brakes. The thieves had also tried to force their way in, and the total cost of the damage means the car has had to be written off.

"It's a heartless thing to do," he said. "I doubt if they'll get more than £100 for them."

The theft meant that Mr Ferguson missed his morning shift at Coddington Court, a school for young people with autism where he is a senior support worker.

"That meant that other people had to work harder, but I don't suppose the thieves thought of that," he said.

And he urged people not to buy wheels that could be stolen. He said: "I was told that sometimes people want to sell their cars but want to keep the alloy wheels, they're on the lookout for a cheap set of normal wheels.

"But if they're offered wheels cheap, they should just remember where they could have come from. They could have been stolen from a car like mine."