Heartless vandals attacked a St Luke’s Hospice van slashing its tyres and ripping off its side mirrors.

The attack on the vehicle outside the St Luke’s charity shop, in Kenton Road, Kenton, left devastated charity workers having to cancel the pick up of stock and deliveries losing valuable sales.

The hospice looks after people in Harrow and Brent with terminal illnesses to give them the best possibly quality of life in their final days.

It has now appealed for donations to make up for the plunge in sales and apologised to customers and donors who were left waiting.

The attack on the van, which is clearly labelled with the St Luke’s Hospice logo, happened sometime over the last May bank holiday weekend.

Staff discovered the damage as they returned to work on May 2.

St Luke’s shops director Joe Feeley said, ‘This terrible incident caused St Luke’s Hospice to not only lose time and money as we were forced to cancel pick ups and deliveries of goods, but also caused a great deal of upset for our committed team of staff and volunteers who struggled to understand why this senseless act of vandalism should happen to St Luke’s Hospice.

“We would like to apologise to all our customers and in particular our donors who were inconvenienced by the actions of one or more hooligans who clearly had no respect for the amazing work that St Luke’s Hospice do in the local community.”

He also thanked staff for their reaction to the attack.

“I would like to pay tribute to the staff and volunteers who managed the situation and have doubled their efforts to try to minimise the impact, in particular minimising the loss of income for the hospice.’

Visit www.stlukes-hospice.org to help.