VANDALS smeared industrial paint-stripper on a dad-of-three’s car, while it was parked outside his house, causing hundreds of pounds worth of damage.

Matty Reynolds, 27, of Windermere Drive, Warndon, believes the attack on his Vauxhall Vectra occurred between 7pm on Sunday and 1pm on Monday.

He said: “I was just on my way to take my son to nursery, just before one o’clock.”

“At first, I just thought it was silly slime, that stuff that children play with, and I didn’t think anything of it.

“It was only when I took it to a car wash and the man was in the middle of doing a jet wash, he told me to get out and have a look. The paint was just coming straight off.”

Mr Reynolds said he then took his car to Mr Scuff ‘N’ Chip on Shrub Hill Industrial Estate, and the mechanic “got a bit on his finger off the car and said it was definitely nitromors, an industrial paint-stripping chemical.”

The garage quoted him £700 for the repairs, with Mr Reynolds having only paid £1,500 for the 12-year-old car.

Mr Reynolds lives with partner Emily Lewis, 27, and has three children – Summer, seven, Leo, four, and Zach, one.

Asked if he could easily afford the costs for the damage, the Sainsbury’s DHL multi-operative said: “Not really, I’m scraping for it.”

He said he does not have any enemies, that he knows of, and has no idea who might have done it.

He added: “I would be more than happy and would go no further with it, if someone would just own up and pay for the damages.

“The tyres haven’t been let down, there’s no other damage, just the paintwork.”

Miss Lewis said police had been informed.

She said: “They said to talk to our neighbours to see if they have heard anything. Unfortunately, nobody had.”

The couple posted about the incident on Facebook, along with photos of the damage, and say a man responded to tell them about a similar incident on the same night.

Mr Reynolds said the man told him that a car belonging to a daughter of his neighbour, on Gillam Road – about a mile-and-a-half away – “had been attacked”.

“The same night, the same sort of stuff,” said Mr Reynolds.

“It has got to be linked,” he added.