AN elderly man had his shopping stolen while waiting for a bus outside an Evesham supermarket in what has been described as a ‘disgusting’ incident.

The thief pulled into the bus stop on the Worcester Road next to Tesco in a white van, while the elderly man, who uses a walking stick, was waiting with his groceries.

A teenage girl is then believed to have rushed out of the vehicle to grab the goods before getting back into the van allowing the male driver to make a speedy getaway before the older man could stop them.

Evesham resident Helen Donovan’s friend was in the store at the time and told Mrs Donovan about the incident which left her seething.

“How can anyone do that?” she said. “He was just waiting for the bus with his weekly shopping, minding his own business.

“He is an older man who was unable to stop it happening.

“My friend was very wound-up about it. Vulnerable people like this are seen as an easy target. It is disgusting.”

Police were called to the supermarket last Thursday at 1.50pm to deal with the incident. The offenders were tracked down about two hours later and the groceries were recovered and taken back to the store.

Tesco replaced all the stolen items with fresh groceries free of charge.

However, instead of fining the male offender, the police made use of its Community Resolution powers to deal with the incident, which saw the offender write a letter of apology to the victim.

The victim accepted the apology which is essential in order for the Community Resolution to be used successfully.

Police believe the teenage girl involved was acting on orders from the man and no further action was taken against her.

Mrs Donovan added: “I am very glad they got the man who did this.

“Putting a picture of him in the paper would have been the best form of punishment though.”

Police confirmed that under the terms of the Community Resolution they could not release a photograph of the man and that this case fell ‘well short’ of the criteria they use when issuing photographs.