A wheelchair belonging to a Scots army veteran honoured for his charity fundraising has been vandalised.
Second World War hero Tom Gilzean, 93, was in bed recovering from acute bronchitis when vandals wrecked his electric wheelchair which was parked in a stairwell outside his Edinburgh home.
It is feared the damage, estimated at £1000, will not be covered by insurance.
The widower, who received a British Empire Medal in the New Year's Honours List for his charity fundraising, said he was angry and upset.
He said: "I have worked my hands to the bone for Edinburgh and this is what these people do to me.
"They ripped the back end of the chair so that it is almost falling off and stole my two walking sticks that I need to get around."
The pensioner said the £3000 electric wheelchair had been badly damaged but was repairable.
Mr Gilzean, who struggles to make ends meet on income support, fears he will have to pay for the repairs himself.
In March, he was praised for amassing £80,000 for the Sick Kids Friends Foundation in little more than five years collecting most days on the Royal Mile.
Councillor Cammy Day is investigating funding channels to help pay for the damage and expects Edinburgh residents will also want to contribute to a wheelchair fund.
He said: "It's shocking and despicable what's happened to a man in his nineties."
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