AN ELDERLY woman who had her handbag stolen by thieves in a Waitrose car park has expressed that she is just "one of many" who has been targeted in the area.

Wendy Sainer, who lives in Sunningdale, visited her local supermarket early in June and was approached by a man who said a part had fallen off her car.

When she got out of the car and spoke to the middle-aged man, another man looked inside and in the meantime of her being distracted, stole her handbag.

The 76-year-old did not realise what was going on until she had entered her vehicle and realised her bag, credit cards and keys were stolen.

Luckily, she had a spare set in the glove compartment so she could go home.

Wendy said: "It must have been a distraction technique they were using, but I feel so silly for leaving it in the car as I am normally very careful.

"I had to go to the garage to put petrol in and I just felt so upset that I couldn't, I couldn't do anything."

The pensioner who lives by herself feels frustrated that these thefts keep happening and has approached Waitrose to see what measures they will take.

She said: "I do think what is the supermarket going to do but they do not seem interested.

"There are no CCTV cameras to prevent it from happening again, so enough is enough now."

"I just want to get the message out there that I am not the only one, other people have complained that thefts are happening and the car park is a easy target for it to happen."

The supermarket currently has parking signs to customers, warning them to use it at their own risk.

However, the Sunningdale resident said this is not enough to scare off thieves and more are likely to happen if there is no CCTV.

Residents in the area also expressed their concerns on social media site, Nextdoor Sunningdale, where thefts in the Waitrose car park have happened on multiple occasions.

A spokesman for Waitrose said: “Our thoughts are very much with our customer. We take instances like this very seriously and are supporting the police with their investigation.’’