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Horrific abuse was scratched into the car door of a Cardiff doctor while she was working in intensive care.

Lema Imam, a doctor at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff, returned to her car at about 9.30pm on Thursday after a busy 13-hour shift in the hospital’s intensive care unit.

The 25-year-old said she found damage to the bonnet, and a message scratched across the passenger side doors which reads “UHW c***”.

Dr Lema said she parked the car a short walk from the hospital near the bridge over the A48 on Allensbank Road at about 7.30am on Thursday.

(Image: Lema Imam)

“I parked there earlier that morning because the hospital car park was really full,” Dr Imam explained. “At about half nine I came outside and my car was scratched.

“It was a bit disheartening and it obviously came as a surprise, you don’t expect to see that.

“At the time it sort of felt targeted but then I found out that other people who had parked there had also had their car scratched.”

At about 7am on Friday, an A&E nurse, who asked not to be named, found a long scratch across the front and back passenger doors of her car. The wing mirror was also badly damaged.

She also said she had heard about similar incidents affecting hospital staff recently.

Dr Imam said since a colleague posted pictures of the damage to her car on Facebook, she has received messages of support and offers from garages to repair the damage free of charge.

“Overall I think the experience, if I may say, has been very positive because of the messages I have been getting on Facebook,” she said.

“I’m really surprised. It shows that people in Cardiff really do appreciate the NHS so I think overall it’s quite touching.”

Dr Imam said she has made contact with one garage to make arrangements to have the damage fixed.