A £500 charity donation is being made to the Snowdogs by the Sea arts trail after a van drove into one of the models.

Kensington, a Hove catering equipment business, made the pledge to The Martlets hospice after it emerged one of its van drivers making a delivery had damaged Process pup, one of the giant sculptures in trail which is on the seafront. The van had parked with the front bumper touching the Snowdog.

The Martlets said the model, by the beach carousel next to the King’s Road arches lower promenade was checked and there was only a small scratch.

It prompted angry calls from fans of the Snowdog trail using the hashtag ProtectThePack. It follows vandalism on two of the sculptures elsewhere in the city in the days since the trail launch - which has otherwise been a success.

The company apologised to The Martlets immediately and when contacted by The Argus the company owner - who was not driving the vehicle – made an offer to donate £500 to the hospice.

Ellis Mendelson, owner of the company which supplies catering and refrigeration equipment to businesses, told The Argus: “I don’t think he crashed I think he parked too close to it, but I’ve seen it and reprimanded the driver.

“A member of the public called our office. We called the driver and got him to move it straight away. “I have no idea why he parked so close. I’m not going to fire someone over this but he got a stern talking to. We’ll make a donation of £500 to The Martlets. I’m in disbelief as to how he could park so close.”

He said he would visit the site to ensure there had been no severe damage.

Charlie Langhorne, director of Albourne-based Wild in Art, which runs Snowdogs by the Sea and other public art projects like it to raise money for charity, said: “To the company’s credit they did hold their hands up immediately, say there was no excuse for it, that they were sorry and made the donation.

“I plan these trails all around the world and there is always a certain amount of over exuberance in the first few weeks and then things calm down. The love for the sculptures has been quite overwhelming, particularly for me running it in my home town. While any damage is always disappointing it is really great the public have been looking after the sculptures so well and we would like to thank them. We’ve had fewer problems here in Brighton than any other trail so far which is really positive and generally Snowdogs by the Sea has been a huge success.”

Please do not climb or damage the Snowdogs. Report damage on the Snowdog hotline 0808 164810.