HYNDBURN MP Greg Pope has been the victim of inter-city pickpockets who stole his wallet and House of Commons pass on a train journey to London.

And the thieves had already spent £300 on his plastic cards in a supermarket near Euston station before he could inform his bank.

Government whip Mr Pope, who was travelling on Virgin Trains West Coast service from Preston to London, believes the wallet was taken after he hung up his jacket.

He said: "I must have left it unattended for a couple of minutes to go to the sandwich bar and I was in my government car in London when I reached into my pocket for my diary and realised both it and my wallet had gone.

"The thieves spent £300 on my bank cards in a supermarket in Camden near the station. They must have gone straight there."

The thieves also got away with Mr Pope's House of Commons Security pass.

Mr Pope went on: "It's been a nightmare. There wasn't much cash in the wallet but I lost all my bank cards and had to cancel them. The fact I've lost my Commons pass has security implications and I've lost my London diary so I could be missing vital meetings and I wouldn't know. "Luckily they didn't get my constituency diary so Hyndburn is unaffected but I'm a victim of crime and I've got even more reason to support Jack Straw's crackdown on petty crime and low level disorder from first hand experience."

"Now I know for myself how much time it takes to sort out the host of problems this type of theft causes and I'm glad Jack is getting on top of it."

Prisons Minister George Howarth MP has also had belongings stolen on the same line and the two MPs are among a rising tide of victims of theft on trains and in railway stations across Britain.

British Transport Police recently published figures showing that theft of property on trains is currently at a four year high.

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