Gone

I used to consider parking a car at a railway station to be rather like dipping a foot into a pond seething with piranhas - no sooner had you pulled the key from the lock than the thieves were in there stripping it bare.

Unfortunately, circumstances dictate that I have to run the risk every day, so I make sure there isn't a single thing inside save bits of gravel and the odd sweet wrapper.

So when I got out of my car today, I was amazed to see the vehicle on my right flaunting a collection of CDs on the dashboard, and the car on my left proudly displaying a posh jacket, which was hanging from a peg begging to be pinched.

To cap it all, both cars were just out of view of CCTV cameras.

Just when I was racking my brains to think of the last time there had been signs of criminal activity in the car park - recalling in particular an incident a few years ago when four cars were torched here - I came upon a series of posters from someone whose bike had taken at the weekend in full view of those same cameras.

It made me wonder why we bother with security measures.

Only on Sunday I was editing a story about bikes being stolen from Cheltenham Spa station - something the police and rail companies were aware of but seemed powerless to stop.

Suddenly, I felt more vulnerable.

But, then again, tonight I returned to the station and the right hand car was still there... and so were those CDs.