Woman warns shoppers after being mugged in supermarket car park (From This Is Local London)

Woman warns shoppers after being mugged in Finchley supermarket car park

6:41pm Tuesday 16th March 2010 in News By Kevin Bradford

A WOMAN is warning shoppers to be vigilant around a supermarket car park in Finchley after she was mugged of more than £1,500.

Scared Christina Wolff believes the envelope of cash was stolen from her van as it was parked in the multi-storey car park behind the Tesco store, in Ballards Lane, at about 4pm yesterday.

The 49-year-old had just taken the large sum of money out of the Barclays Bank opposite the supermarket and feels she was followed by two men through the store as she returned to her vehicle.

As she got in the van, one of the men tapped on the window and told her she had dropped some loose change on the floor.

She went to check and found collection of coins on the ground which the man was picking up. He pulled her by the arm and in broken English encouraged her to look further under the van for more of the money.

It is then Mrs Wolff thinks the other man opened the passenger side door and lifted the £1,650 which she had withdrawn to pay contractors employed by the property management company she works for.

“I got out of the car because I thought perhaps I had got a hole in my bag or something,” said Mrs Wolff, of Woodside Park.

“At first he looked threatening but I thought it was nice of him to hand the money back to me. I looked under the van and that must be when someone else was taking the envelope from my handbag.

“I have never had anything horrible like this happen to me.”

She returned to the car a noticed the passenger door partly open, but it was only when she got home and checked her bag that she realised the money had gone.

“It was only then that all the strangeness of the situation, with the money and the door being open, began to fall into place,” she said.

“I would like to warn everybody else to be aware that these men are operating in the area.

“I was feeling very vulnerable. I will never use that car park again.”

The man who pulled Mrs Wolff away, who she said was “horrible and looked awful”, is described as about 5ft 6” tall with a very stocky build and dark olive skin. He was wearing dark jeans and a blue hat.

Barnet police said they had only received another two reports of thefts from the same car park in the past two years, but added they were investigating the incident.

Anyone with information or who may have witnessed the theft should call Barnet police on 0300 123 1212 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.