CHEQUES worth thousand of pounds and confidential business information sent to a York tax office have been found dumped on wasteground.

The Evening Press can reveal that a resident walking his dog near the Swinson House Inland Revenue office discovered several apparently uncashed cheques. Their total value was more than £33,000.

When we returned to Station Business Park, off Poppleton Road, we discovered confidential documents including parts of tax returns, correspondence and even a court summons on the ground only yards from the building.

The Inland Revenue has launched an urgent inquiry and pledged to step up security measures. The Evening Press understands that staff members believe youths stole the items from their letter box.

It is thought the documents could be part of a huge rush of post sent to tax offices nationwide as millions of people rushed to file their self-assessment tax returns before the January 31 deadline to avoid automatic fines of £100.

But the 57-year-old self-employed man who discovered the cheques said: "It's terrible to think that people's hard-earned cash is apparently being thrown away like this. Questions must be asked."

The cheques, which have all been returned to the Inland Revenue, were found on THREE separate occasions on unused ground bordered by the tax office and the former Thrall carriageworks site.

They were worth between £400 and £28,000, made payable to the tax man and were all dated in January. Two were from private individuals who bank in North Yorkshire. The third was from Pocklington Steel Structures Ltd.

Paperwork, including parts of tax forms, company stationery and dozens of envelopes, were also discovered. Some of the items were partially burnt.

Stephen Barrett, managing director of Pocklington Steel Structures, said he would be contacting the Inland Revenue once an internal investigation had been completed.

He said: "We are shocked to hear of the allegations regarding the whereabouts of documents sent to the Inland Revenue York on or about January 22."

An Inland Revenue spokesman said: "We believe the items in question were stolen from our York office and we are grateful to the Evening Press for their safe return.

"The Inland Revenue takes security extremely seriously and has many measures in place to ensure all documents it receives are handled appropriately. As a result of this incident additional security has been introduced at our York office."

Updated: 09:18 Saturday, February 14, 2004