A DOC'S ACT OF MERC-Y

A BIG-HEARTED hospital doctor is giving away his posh Mercedes for charity.

As a parting gift to patients in the Outer Hebrides, the locum doctor has ordered that the car be sold to the highest bidder to raise cash for a hard-up local hospice.

It comes complete with his personalised number plate - though he wants to remain anonymous.

The surprise present from the medical consultant even shocked the Bethesda Nursing Home Trust on the Isle of Lewis - it had had no previous contact with the locum.

He had been working at the Western Isles Hospital, also in Stornoway.

But his gift is just what the doctor ordered for the hospice which needs to raise pounds 150,000 a year - half its running costs.

The locum wanted to repay the community for the kindness he had received during his time on the island.

And he stunned staff at 25-bed Bethesda by offering them his silver turbo diesel Mercedes E300 which will be nine years old in October. It has 75,000 miles on the clock and a book value of pounds 6000.

It is now being advertised with bids invited.

"It happened out of the blue," said Donald Roderick Macdonald, finance officer for Bethesda. "He said he just wanted to donate something to the local community in appreciation of the care he'd received here.

"We couldn't believe it. We had never had any contact from him until two days before he left the island and said he was leaving us his beautiful car! We have never had a donation like it.

"It's a dream car and we hope it will raise a lot of money for the hospice. It's a very generous gesture."

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