The news that elderly shoppers have been conned out of almost £10,000 in a spate of car park distraction scams across Oxfordshire is certainly worrying.

It started in June and has continued this month.

In all, there have been six individuals targeted while they have been loading bags into their cars outside supermarkets.

The con has netted the gang around £9,500 in the past five months in scams in Witney, Abingdon, Wantage and Wallingford.

The thieves ask for directions and while the shopper is distracted, they steal purses and wallets — and then use the victim's bank cards.

You couldn't get much lower.

Following one theft, the gang managed to withdraw more than £4,000.

Just as worrying is the fact that the police, whose job it is to inform us when they become aware of criminal acts like this, failed to alert the public until yesterday.