BRAZEN thieves jacked up a pensioner’s car in the dead of night and made off with one of the front wheels.

When Pam Franklin called mechanics to ask for a new wheel they said they had not seen a theft of that nature for nearly a decade.

The 64-year-old grandmother, of Moorland Road, Witney, said she was baffled as to why anyone would want to risk stealing a steel wheel worth only about £30 from her driveway.

She said: “The car was parked on my drive, where I thought it would be safe. I have lived in Witney for more than 20 years and always thought it was a nice place.

“I am an old aged pensioner and do quite a bit of volunteer work. I need my car to get to events.

“I’m now frightened to go to bed in case I wake up and find something else has happened.”

Ms Franklin awoke on the morning of Tuesday, January 23, and noticed her VW Polo leaning at a strange angle.

She went out and discovered the driver-side steel wheel had been taken.

The heartless thieves had also taken the trims and wheel nuts, ensuring she could not fit her spare.

Ms Franklin said it was hard for her to think about people coming onto her drive and stealing her properly while she was asleep in bed. She was also surprised by the apparent rarity of such crime.

She said: “When I phoned the garage they said they hadn’t had something like this in eight years. No one seems to have heard of anyone taking a wheel like this.

“It must have been quite a job getting it off too. One or two strong people would have had to have held it up.”

Ms Franklin lives near Witney Hospital and so a lot of cars move up and down her road at night – leaving her hope that someone saw thieves removing the wheel.

Anybody with information about the theft, or those who witnessed something unusual on the night, are asked to call 101.