A disabled pensioner has been presented with a new mobility scooter - after her last one was swallowed by a sinkhole that opened in her back garden.
Carole Kent, 65, was left "crying herself to sleep" when a massive void opened in Oliver Road, Swanley on March 19, measuring five or six metres in diameter and around three metres deep.
Two sheds fell into the hole, one of which contained, among other things, Mrs Kent's mobility scooter - her only means of independence.
At the time her son, Russell Kent, 40, said: "She's had a tough time of it, she's lost her husband and she suffers from arthritis and had a knee replacement operation which went wrong, which means she has a lot of trouble getting out the house.
"And after this happened she's been in bits."
Steve Hall and Ian McClellan - director and company advisor of Elite Mobility, based in Bristol - read about what had happened in News Shopper and were inspired to help.
Russell Kent with neighbour Joseph Hutchens, who was also affected by the sinkhole
Last Tuesday (May 2) they presented Mrs Kent with a brand new, "life-changing" scooter.
The company's other director Wayne Pegler told News Shopper: "We had seen the story in the newspaper, people had pointed it out to us but nobody seemed to be helping this poor lady.
"We have funds we set aside every year for charitable causes and when we saw the story we thought this is our area of expertise, this is one for us, let's help her.
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"We got in touch with her through News Shopper, and Steve and Ian went down there to deliver it.
"She absolutely loves it, she cannot believe she has got her mobility back and her freedom.
"The words she used were 'life-changing'."
The damage caused by the sinkhole, which swallowed up two sheds
Mrs Kent said: "I was very surprised. I thought: 'bloody hell, there's some good in the world'.
"It means I get about more - I couldn't get around without a zimmer frame before.
"It makes a great difference, my freedom to get about a bit more.
"Thank you very, very much, it's a big help."
Mr Pelter added: "People can be cynical about it and say we are looking for free advertising but the truth is, every now and again, we see a story like this and sometimes it is nice to give a little back.
"What happened happened through no fault of her own, how could she have prepared for her mobility scooter falling down a sinkhole?"
Carole Kent says the mobility scooter will make a "great difference" in her life
Two-and-a-half months after the hole - thought to have been caused a leaking drainage pipe which resulted in saturated ground giving way - opened and it has just been filled in.
Mrs Kent said: "We're just trying to get the land straight now, the hole's been filled in.
"It has taken a while but things are much better."
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