A disability charity that saw one of the vehicles it relies on broken into and damaged has been given a lifeline to help protect its premises.

The Hamlet Charity had one of its two specially adapted minibuses broken into on December 2 - with wires pulled from under the steering wheel - while it was parked outside the organisation's new adult centre in Marion Road, Thorpe Hamlet.

Norwich Evening News: The incident happened on December 2, at The Hamlet's new venue in Marion Road, Thorpe HamletThe incident happened on December 2, at The Hamlet's new venue in Marion Road, Thorpe Hamlet (Image: The Hamlet)

While the minibus is still out of action the charity's premises have a new line of defence after a local tech company stepped in to help.

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BrownTech IT Services have installed CCTV cameras around the building and donated £490 - 50pc - of the installation cost.

Chief executive of The Hamlet, Ellie Coulson, said: "Our Marion Road premises now feel well protected so hopefully we won’t have any future incidents of damage to our property or vehicles.

"As a charity, every penny counts so having half the cost of the CCTV system donated to us by BrownTech, is incredible.

Norwich Evening News: Ellie Coulson, chief executive of The Hamlet and Rob, from BrownTech IT Services who installed the CCTVEllie Coulson, chief executive of The Hamlet and Rob, from BrownTech IT Services who installed the CCTV (Image: The Hamlet)

"Sadly, we're still operating with only one minibus and are likely to have to do so for the foreseeable future, which impacts the number and type of activities we can offer to our service users.

"However we're immensely grateful to BrownTech for its generous support."

While the CCTV is a step in the right direction for the charity, it's still relying on one minibus with the other still out of action.

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Ellie added: "We rely heavily on our adapted vehicles to transport Hamlet users to and from activities.

Norwich Evening News: The damage done to the minibus has left it unavailable to use by the charityThe damage done to the minibus has left it unavailable to use by the charity (Image: The Hamlet)

"Given the complex needs of the people we support, it's simply not possible to use other forms of transport.

"We'd already had to find the money for several expensive repair bills for this vehicle due to its age prior to the incident, so someone damaging it deliberately is devastating for us."