A HORRIFIED woman found hundreds of credit card receipts Frodsham Co-op scattered across Runcorn East railway station after a security blunder.

Georgina Ferrans, aged 29, of Pochard Drive, Runcorn, said the receipts had the card numbers, expiry dates and customer signatures clearly showing but there were too many for her to gather up for safekeeping.

She said: "As I was coming out of the station at about 5pm, I saw hundreds of them floating around on the lawn area. Someone phoned the store and they were supposed to have been confidentially destroyed as normal but obviously something had gone wrong."

The manager from the Co-op on Frodsham High Street told the Guardian he was not allowed to comment on the incident but a United Co-operatives spokesperson confirmed that confidential material is removed from the shop by a company which specialises in destroying confidential documents.

He said: "We were very concerned when this incident was brought to our attention and have launched an urgent investigation into the circumstances of the particular incident and into our procedures for destroying such material."

Customers worried their details may have been stolen should check bank statements and raise any queries with their card issuer but they are not liable if their details have been used fraudulently.

APACS, the Association for Payment Clearing Services, which works to stop card crime said: "If a card is not present when a fraudulent transaction takes place the card holder does not have to meet the loss."

ecummins@guardiangrp.co.uk