SEEING a couple looking very worried near the Minster recently, I stopped and spoke, thinking they were lost.

They were visitors from Ormskirk and had been sitting in Dean's Park enjoying the last of the afternoon sunshine before heading back to their coach. Just than a passing youth snatched the woman's handbag and sprinted off, throwing it to another boy on a bike.

The bag contained money, credit card, three pairs of glasses, house keys and medication for the man, who was a diabetic, as well as the personal bits that most women carry.

Their coach was due to leave, they were shaken and upset and couldn't quite remember where it was parked. The police were informed and I walked to the coach park with them.

They told me that until then, they'd had such a wonderful day, and how much they liked York.

I felt ashamed for this city which is so loved by tourists. When we reached the coach park we were told that another couple on the same coach had also been robbed, and there they were elderly, frail, and looked so sad at having had their day out ruined as they sat in Museum Gardens.

I felt so angry that these thieving louts can cause such hurt and misery, and although I said how sorry I was it seemed so inadequate.

I'm sure regular readers will heed the warnings printed in the Press, but it makes me sad to think that as visitors wander our ancient streets new-age thieves may be lurking around a corner.

Joan E Paley,

Alwyne Drive, York.

Updated: 11:13 Tuesday, July 03, 2001