THIEVES whisked away up to £450 worth of donations which had been left in sacks for Oxfam collectors.

Two youths were spotted travelling along a road in the Sunny Bower area of Blackburn in a red Fiat car, collecting the sacks of old clothes and second hand items.

And today volunteer Tony Makin, who works at the Lord Square branch in the town centre, urged people to keep an eye out for bogus collectors.

He said: "I think this is really unfair. It's not as if the volunteers stood to make any money out of the donations, they had all given up their time.

"We work on an estimate that each bag will generate between £12 and £18 for charity.

"The legitimate collectors always wear some form of identification. We would be grateful if people would contact the police if they see anyone acting suspiciously."

Mr Makin said the crime came to light as collectors travelled through Sunny Bower yesterday morning.

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