NOT many people would stand up to a hooded figure stealing their car in the middle of the night.

Even fewer would try it naked, but that is what happened to Russell Stuart last week.

Reporter ANTONY THROWER tells the story.

RUSSELL Stuart was fast asleep in his bed when he was woken up by the sound of his own car starting in the middle of the night.

Without a second's thought, he jumped up and hurtled down the stairs of his Dymchurch home and saw someone was attempting to steal his Peugeot 405.

The 51-year-old jumped in the car's passenger seat and said: "All right, mate? Where are we going, then?"

It was only when the would-be thief ran away that Mr Stuart realised he was completely naked.

Mr Stuart, an operations technician at Dungeness B, said: "I don't know what the guy must have thought when a large naked bloke got in the car next to him.

"When your car is being stolen you don't think about it, you just react.

"Luckily our driveway is quite hard to manoeuvre in, otherwise the little wotsit would have got away.

"Our home is off the main road and can be hard to find.

"I'll never forget the look on his face, though.

"It was a peach."

The attempted theft happened on Friday at 3.45am.

When the hooded teenager fled, Mr Stuart got in the driver's seat and drove after him.

The father-of-two said: "I started driving through Dymchurch when I thought I should probably turn round.

"I didn't want to have my own collar felt because, at the end of the day, I was naked and it would have been hard to explain to police."

Mr Stuart, who also owns a Jeep Cherokee, said he did have a piece of advice for the thief.

He said: "Give up stealing cars and get a proper job – you're clearly rubbish at it."