A CHARITY supporter and her husband had their car taken from their driveway in Ferndown in a 'devastating' early morning theft.

Jacqueline Moss, an ambassador for Marie Curie, and husband, Don, of Victoria Gardens, were packing their car on Friday at 8am to drive to a funeral.

Jacqueline asked her husband to get out of the car to help her lift a bag and says this is when an opportunist thief got into the Audi A4 TDI and sped off.

Don gave chase to the end of their road, but could not catch up with the vehicle.

Jacqueline said: "They don't understand the devastation this has caused. There were a number of my mum's things in the car, who has sadly passed away.

"I'm in shock. We were only 10 to 15 feet away. We were getting ready to go to a funeral in Swindon and we had everything ready.

"There was one thing that I couldn't pick up and Don got out of the car to help me. He went to the car and came back saying 'My car is gone. My car is gone.' I told him not to be silly, but when I looked it had gone. It is unbelievable."

She added that an iPad was among the belongings in the vehicle, which has enabled the retired couple to track the vehicle's location which is being passed onto the police.

A spokesperson for Dorset Police confirmed that they received a report of a black Audi estate car having been stolen from a property in Victoria Gardens.

They added that the engine of the vehicle is reported to have been running at the time of the theft as the victim loaded the vehicle with items from their house.

Dorset Police advises members of the public to lock the doors and close the windows when they leave their car for any length of time. On frosty mornings, motorists should not leave the car unattended with the engine running while it defrosts.

Officers continue to make their enquiries to locate the offender and the stolen car. Anyone with information should contact Dorset Police on 101, quoting incident number 15:63.