PUPILS from an East Lancashire high school had an idyllic Lake District holiday spoiled when thieves stole hundreds of pounds worth of goods from their minibus after they stopped for a 15-minute food break.

Two teachers and 13 Year-11 students from Norden High School, Rishton, were returning from a camping trip in Ambleside when they stopped in Preston to pick up a takeaway.

The group left the school minibus parked for just 15 minutes, but when they returned, they found it had been broken into, with two windows smashed and the door left hanging open.

Initially, the group thought nothing had been taken because many expensive electrical items such as portable CD players and mobile phones were still on display.

But once the police had been called, the students realised clothes and gadgets worth hundreds of pounds had been snatched by the opportunist thieves.

Police believe the crooks were disturbed before they had chance to steal more of the students' belongings.

Norden High School headteacher Gena Merrett said the theft, on Tuesday, made for a disappointing end to the holiday, which had been arranged to coincide with the end of the students' GCSEs.

She said: "It is very sad that such a happy holiday had to end this way. "We are always worried when we take students away but everything had passed off so well, without any hitches.

"They had spent several nights camping in Ambleside after the end of the exams and had obviously enjoyed themselves.

"We are now in the process of claiming on our insurance for the items which were taken. It was all quite a shock for them."

The holiday has become an annual event for the top year students, she added, and this was the first time anything had gone wrong.

A spokesman for Lancashire Police said the crime proved the need to always place valuables out of view.

She said: "We always tell people to either take anything of particular value with them or hide them where they can't be seen."

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