A CHARITY is £50 better off thanks to the vigilance of community wardens in Hartlepool.

Wardens working in the town's New Deal for Communities (NDC) are believed to have prevented a crime when they discovered an envelope containing a credit card in an empty house.

They returned it to the issuing company, MBNA, which sent the wardens a £50 reward.

The wardens then passed on the cash to Councillor Carl Richardson, the chairman of Hartlepool Borough Council, to benefit his chosen charity, the Hartlepool Deaf Centre.

Ted Morgan, warden manager, said: "We are not in the job to accept rewards, but we were keen to see the money benefit a good cause so we decided to hand it over to the chairman of the council."

The wardens first noticed the mail at the house as part of a routine security check, but their suspicions were aroused when they returned the following day and noticed some of it had gone.

On a third visit they discovered the credit card.

Coun Richardson said: "I'm delighted with this gesture by the wardens and this is a perfect example of the excellent work that is being carried out by wardens in several parts of the town."

The town's NDC programme funds a team of 12 wardens which provides cover seven days a week in two shifts.

Wardens also work in several other areas of the town, funded through the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund.