Community rallies to help scooter theft victim return to driver's seat

Jack Simpson gets the first go on his new wheels from (left) Tessa Flowers-Morrell as the children of Lulu and Max holiday program look on. Photo / Warren Buckland

A week after having his scooter stolen Jack Simpson is now back in the driver's seat but not without the generosity of the local community.

The 81-year-old was left stranded at his residence at Brittany House Residential Care after his scooter was taken during the night on 28 June.

Since then he said he had an abundance of offers come in from people willing to loan, give and even donate towards a new scooter.

"I can't believe how many people have been wanting to help out, it just goes to show that there are still a lot of good people out there," Simpson said.

But with so many offers there was only one he had to pick from.

Tessa Flowers-Morrell owner of Lulu and Max, an after school and holiday program, got in contact with Simpson and his daughter Helena after her father saw what had happened to him.

"My dad had this scooter in his shed and he saw the story on Facebook and said that this poor old guy had his scooter stolen so let's give him this one."

Morrell said that being able to do something like this and having the kids involved is just a way to help them see the importance of helping other people in the community.

"It's just a great way for us to show to the kids that we need to give back to the elderly and help those out that need it," she said.

Jack Simpson gets instructions on how his replacement scooter works from (left) Tessa Flowers-Morrell after his one was stolen over a week ago. Photo / Warren Buckland

For Simpson having the scooter was just a way to be able to get more of his independence back and help save a few of his breaths even though that didn't seem to stop him.

"I've been going out walking still but my legs aren't as good as they used to be."

His daughter Helena said that he was still determined to get around but without the scooter he gets exhausted quicker and struggles to get around, but that still doesn't seem to stop him.

"He was still determined to get down to the shops just by walking but by the time he got anywhere near it would get too much for him," she said.

When he finally got on to his new scooter he didn't seem to hold back as he raced around showing off to the children how fast the scooter could go, even joking with them to see if he could do a wheelie or not.

"This time I'll be fast enough to catch those guys if I see my scooter driving around anywhere," he said with a grin.

But for Simpson he said that just having so many people wanting to support him and help him out was wonderful.

"It's just amazing to have people wanting to help me out. It just goes to show what goes around comes around."

Then jokingly he said, "Maybe that's why I had my scooter taken in the first place."