The owner of a much-loved rare classic car worth £100,000 is asking for the public’s help after it was stolen on Christmas Eve.

Pascal Maeter was bought the convertible blue 1955 Austin Healey just two years ago for his fiftieth birthday by his wife and spent 18 months lovingly restoring it so was devastated when it was stolen from his Chelsea garage on December 24 - just six months after finishing the restoration.

He parked the distinctive car, worth around £100,000, inside his garage at 2pm and later that evening found the garage door had been forced open and the car stolen.

Mr Maeter, said: “When I was given this car it had not been used for 40 years. It looked good from 20 meters, but when you got up close you saw that it needed a great deal of work. It took me many months to get it back to being a beautiful and working machine.

“I really hope the public can help; it was not just an ordinary car to me! This Austin Healey was a much loved gift, one of a special production and restoring it was a labour of love.”

The car's number plate, 856 YUK, is also fairly distinctive.

DC Joe de Vere, of Kensington and Chelsea Police, added: “The car is very distinctive and extremely rare. This is the sort of car that people would notice and for that reason it has probably been stored off the streets. But it will need to be moved eventually and I would ask the public to remember what it looks like and call police if they see it.”

Anyone who has any information about the car should contact Kensington and Chelsea Police on 0208 246 0231, quoting reference number 5621651/14.

If you spot the car please call police immediately on 999.