Mobile barber vows to bounce back after vandalism

The owner of a mobile barbering business is vowing to bounce back after one of his two specially-converted vans was stolen and badly damaged.

Aaron Simmons, who runs The Busking Barber, said the van was stolen from Rainham, Kent, overnight on Thursday and was found in Queenborough badly damaged and minus its engine.

Mr Simmons, who has been operating his mobile business in the Medway towns since 2020, said he was "devastated" and "angry".

He said the mobile barber van had cost him around £12,000 to purchase and convert.

Mr Simmons said: "I can’t tell you how angry it makes me that incidents like this continue to ruin small businesses and disregard the livelihoods of hard-working people.

"We feed our children, we pay our bills and taxes and we have tried to build something that our community can really benefit from when spending time, money and effort on this business.

"It’s a massive shame. I'm totally gutted."

More than £3,000 has been raised online in a few days by clients, friends and family to try to keep the business afloat.

Mr Simmons said: "There’s no chance we can bounce back quickly from this but we will."

He said: "With the van completely written off, we will only get so far with insurance."

Kent Police confirmed the incident had been reported to them on Friday.

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