Car SOS: Ford Mondeo transformed by Car SOS team to surprise a Portsmouth man who has suffered loss and illness over the last few years

Karl Anderson, 44, has been astonished after his best friend, Nick Bromly surprised him by taking his old, run down Ford Mondeo to the Car SOS team – Tim Shaw and Fuzz Townshend.

Karl, of Waterlooville, has been through a traumatic few years which started when his partner and the mother of his two daughters, Debbie, suddenly died of meningitis in April 2017. Debbie had been suffering with headaches for a couple of days leading up to her hospitalisation and Karl had told her to get in touch with the doctors to get it checked out. The 44-year-old was at work when he received a phone call from his eldest daughter, Lauren, to say that her mum needed to go to hospital.

Debbie was taken to hospital on Friday and she had put into a medically induced coma but sadly the meningitis was too severe and she passed away over within a couple of days of being in hospital.

Karl said: ‘They told me that the blood had stopped going to her brain so she had passed away. I told the girls that their mum had gone to sleep forever.

‘I had gone from being in a relationship – happy family – on Friday and I was a single dad on Monday.’

Prior to Debbie’s passing, Karl had been at the doctors complaining of an ongoing cough and the day after his partner’s death, Karl had to have a camera down his throat to check his heart and they informed him in the summer of 2017 that he needed to have open heart surgery due to a failing valve.

The family had already been subjected to a traumatic few months adjusting to life without their loved one and then Karl had to undergo a major operation at Southampton Hospital, which caused more stress and upset.

Karl recovered from the operation and things seemed to be getting back on track when another hurdle was faced.

Karl and his sisters decided to save up and buy their dad a Ford Mondeo for his 60th birthday, but when the car faced some engine problems years later and his dad became unwell, the vehicle ended up off the road and not being used any more.

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He said: ‘For my dad’s 60th me and my four sisters wanted to save up and buy him a car. We looked around and bought him the Mondeo and he kept it up for years and I think he got to 70 and he started having seizures so he had to give up driving and it just sat there and I thought of what I could do to repair it.’

Last year, Karl’s dad died, leaving a void in the family and in a bid to try and do something nice for Karl, his friend, Nick Bromly, decided to get in touch with the show and see if they could fix the car which meant so much to his dad and the family.

The Car SOS team have transformed the Mondeo into a beautiful version of itself and Karl, who thought the car was with his mechanic, was none the wiser when he turned up at the Silverstone track to look at some cars on a day out.

The big reveal took place when he was taken into a garage area which had a stunning 1996 Ford Mondeo inside.

Karl said: ‘I went up around into a garage area and there was this Mondeo there and it had been done up like a touring car and I was just in awe of the car really and I said to my friend, Nick, this is nice, not like my car and I could see two gentlemen with two helmets on at the front of the car and I just thought I had interrupted someone’s show so I stood back and one of the taller gentlemen came round to the side of me and he took his helmet off and I just pointed because my brain couldn’t keep up – from there it just snowballed.

‘My car was a bit of a wreck when they took hold of it bless them – I still can’t get my head around it.’

Tim and Fuzz revealed that the car on show was, in fact, his dad’s car and an overwhelmed Karl was also surprised by his friends and family who came to support him.

The episode which features Karl will be showing on National Geographic at 8pm tonight.