A SNEAK-IN thief stole the wallets of York firefighters - just as they were handing over £42,000 raised for the families of New York firefighters.

The despicable intruder got into the changing area upstairs at York Fire Station in Clifford Street during the cheque presentation ceremony last Friday afternoon.

A number of wallets containing cash and credit cards were taken, and the credit cards were subsequently used, said station commander Barry Kirkpatrick.

"One does have to suspect that they were hoping there would be £42,000 lying around at the station, and took the wallets as a second best," he said.

He said firefighters were relieved that the New York funds - raised since the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on September 11 and safely banked - had not been touched, but they were "disappointed" at the loss of their own wallets.

"I am very disappointed that the firefighters who put so much effort into raising money to help the families of their counterparts should have personally lost out."

He did not believe the credit cards thefts would prove a problem, but said he had offered assistance to those firefighters who had lost cash.

He said security at the station was normally tight, and the intruder would appear to have taken advantage of a rare moment when there were many guests around at the fire station and a stranger would not be noticed.

Detective Chief Inspector Steve Barlow, of York police, said: "This is typical of the low level to which some crime is reaching."

Updated: 10:43 Tuesday, October 02, 2001