A CIRENCESTER man is donating a car worth £3,000 to a stranger who deserves it, as part of a random act of kindness.

Richard King was nominated by a friend to perform a random act of kindness, a new social media phenomenon.

It hopes to take the limelight from the dangerous NEK nomination craze in which people film themselves drinking a pint of alcohol and posting the clip online.

NEK Nominations have come under fire for encouraging excessive drinking and has already claimed the lives of several people. Recently, one man who filmed himself drinking two pints of gin died a few days later.

Richard King, who owns a second hand car dealership in Poole Keynes, decided he will give away a Smart car, worth £3,000. He has been inundated by requests from people who have seen what he is planning to do including dozens of sob stories.

“I just thought, why not give this car away to someone who really deserves it, not just one who needs it,” said Richard. “I put the details of what I was doing on my Facebook page and it just went mad.”

The 35-year-old lives just five minutes away from his business Clearwater Vehicles, in Oaksey, and will soon be receiving the car ready to give away to one lucky person.

“I just wanted to give someone a nice thing. I’m going to get it all sorted too, make sure it has tax, MOT and is ready to drive,” he added.

He was nominated by his friend Amy Slater, who he has known since they were both 16 and who had herself been nominated for a random act of kindness.

Her random act involved buying a homeless man lunch.

“I was walking to work and saw a homeless man bundled up in a duvet so I decided to buy him some food,” she said. “I got him a baguette, a bunch of bananas, a doughnut and a bottle of water. His eyes lit up.

“We should be able to do these things without thinking about it. I know people who have given out bars of free chocolate in shops with nice little notes attached.”