REVELLERS enjoying the pubs and clubs on the Gateshead Quays are being advised by Northumbria Police to hang on to their belongings.

Personal items such as handbags, purses, wallets, mobile telephones and pieces of clothing are being reported stolen to police.

But they turn up later, found by staff in the nightspots around the Quays area. Some of the purses and wallets handed in still contain credit cards and other valuables.

Inspector Les Pattison of Gateshead East area command, said: " There is a tendency, particularly in nightclubs, for people to be careless with their property, often as a result of drink.

"They leave handbags and wallets on tables and report it to us a theft, when it is not a theft at all and the property is recovered.

"So we're advising that if you realise your bag, purse, wallet or mobile telephone is missing, you should contact the pubs and clubs you visited first, before you report the items as stolen."

Insp Pattison stressed that not all missing property was down to carelessness and he advised people not to make it easy for opportunist thieves.