A DISABLED Southampton woman has issued a desperate plea for her cherished mobility scooter to be returned after it was stolen outside a city library.

Nesta Stocks, who described the scooter as her "life line", had used it to get to her knitting club class in Woolston on Saturday (May 23) - but when she left the class heartless thieves had taken it.

The great-grandmother has urged the thieves to hand the vehicle, which she has taken on holidays as far away as the USA, back or for anyone with information to contact the police.

The 68-year-old from Woolston used to work as a housing office manager for the city council until she was forced to retire early in 2000 due to her worsening angina.

She was forced to use the scooter due to her angina, which sees bloody supply to the heart restricted and can lead to chest pains that spread to other parts of the body, and psoriatic arthritis, a condition that leads to joint pains and swelling.

She bought the red mobile "luggie" scooter from her sister-in-law for £2,000 four years ago, and has used it for short trips and long holidays.

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But having parked it in the bicycle storage area outside Woolston Library in Portsmouth Road at 10am on Saturday, it was not there when she returned at noon.

She told the Daily Echo: "It's my life-line - I wouldn't be able to travel the way I do without it.

"I haven't really been out since, I need people to give me lifts everywhere which means I can't be spontaneous.

"I feel like a brown paper parcel, with people picking me up and dropping me off at other places.

"It's upset me greatly, I couldn't believe my eyes when I came out and saw it had gone - I was in shock."

She says she is now forced to use a much-heavier scooter than greatly hampers her ability to get out and about, and husband Nick, 66, says he may now be forced to fork out more than £2,000 for a replacement.

He said: "It's a specialist scooter, it's very small and ultra lightweight so you can lift it and put it in the car and it folds away to nothing.

"She has another one but this one is so much narrower and smaller, the other one is very big and awkward.

"She can't do without it. The personal connection is quite strong to her.

"She was very tearful. It's sad and what sort of scum would steal a disabled scooter?"

Anyone with information about the scooter should phone police on 101, asking for PC Irving or quoting crime reference number 44150173562.