Wednesday February 22 2012
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My car park theft ordeal
Posted on December 06 2011 at 9:25:17 0 comments
The county councillor for Alvechurch has revealed how she was the victim of a “horrible” incident in a Redditch supermarket car park, leaving her fearful of going out alone.
June Griffiths spoke out to warn other villagers to be aware when putting their PIN into cash and self-service machines.
“I don’t know whether you know that I was robbed on Sainsbury’s car park,” she told Alvechurch parish councillors.
“That took the wind out of my sails for some weeks; I wouldn’t go out on my own and was looking around all the time.
“It is a horrible thing to happen,” said Coun Griffiths. “When I put my PIN in now you would think it’s a military exercise.”
Coun Griffiths told how two men “isolated” her at about 11am on a Saturday morning after watching her use her card.
“They were not hoodies, not foreign, not young, they were perfectly ordinary looking people.
“It’s known as distraction robbery and it was not a nice experience. I’m trying to raise awareness of it. Even if you have to look strange when you put your PIN in, I ask that you make sure that this goes out to people around the village.”
Coun Griffiths said that by 1.30pm, she had a phone call from “the Barclays fraud people” to say the card had been used at various shops from Leamington Spa to London.
West Mercia Police told The Village: “We can confirm a woman in her 70s reported a theft at Sainsbury’s on 13 August.
“While she was putting her shopping in her car a man approached her and started asking her for directions.
“When she got home she realised her purse was missing and she was later informed by her bank that there had been suspicious activity on her card in London which amounted to £1,472.
“It is believed that while the man was distracting her by asking for directions, an accomplice stole her purse.”
During the summer West Mercia Police announced an operation called Operation Ashton had been set up to give a co-ordinated approach to distraction-type thefts across the force area.
Police are urging people to be vigilant and not to allow themselves to be distracted. It is also a good idea to keep bags fastened up to prevent criminals gaining easy access to the contents, and to avoid carrying large amounts of cash.
Officers are also warning people to be aware of people standing very close to them or brushing against them.
Coun Griffiths also told Alvechurch Parish Council why she had been unable to attend their meetings for the past six months. “I understand there have been quite a few comments made about me,” she said. “I am a human being and if you saw my diary for this week, I am not really in.”
Coun Griffiths then read out a list of all of her appointments over the coming week to demonstrate she had no free time, adding: “And it doesn’t stop when I’m at home because there are emails and telephone calls.”
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