Bag Theft

I have had two handbags stolen in the past and as anyone who has experienced this can tell you, it is really annoying!

The first time, about 20 years ago, I was out with my mother having a midweek picnic. It was a fairly secluded beauty spot and we were out of sight of my parked car. I really stupidly left my handbag on the back seat, although did think to cover it over with a blanket. On returning to the car, I found my back passenger window smashed and my very lovely tan leather 1980's saddlebag gone.

Now, I did learn my lesson from that incident. Well almost. About 8 years ago, I was going to see a live band with a friend. I hated taking a bag into gigs back then, so when I picked up my friend from her house, I locked my bag and coat into the boot of my car. I then drove about 1o miles to the venue and parked for the evening. Having taken the precaution of locking my belongings into the car away from the venue, I assumed they would be safe as noone had seen me do it.

Wrong again! When I returned to my car a few hours later, I found it unlocked, which concerned me. Upon further investigation, I found my bag and coat gone, alone with a few coins I kept in the ashtray for parking. Thankfully, the thief had shown some consideration, he had picked the lock with a bent pair of scissors (it was an old car!) which I found on the back seat.

Whilst the inconvenience of reporting the incidents to police, making insurance claims and cancelling bank cards etc is really annoying, the worst bit was losing two really great bags! The second bag was a really soft suede rucksack my sister had bought me in Poland. It was impossible to replace.

Now, I've well and truly learnt my lesson. I never, ever leave my bag in my car, or anyone else's for that matter!