A PENSIONER in her 80s has called in solicitors to try and get back hundreds of pounds she lost in a cab.

But it is not the cab driver who is holding onto her money, it is the police.

The Bexleyheath pensioner, who is 83, is crippled with arthritis and only goes out once a week by cab to do her shopping.

She had taken out £480 in cash from her bank two weeks ago to pay some bills but dropped the money in the cab.

Her regular licensed minicab driver Steve McKenzie told News Shopper: "I didn't spot the money even when I cleaned the cab. Days later, when I filled up with petrol I came back to the car and saw the money.

"At first I thought someone had dumped some stolen cash in my cab, so I went to Bexleyheath police station and handed it in."

It was not until he heard fellow cabdrivers at Master Cars at Bexleyheath station talking about the elderly customer who had lost a large amount of cash that the penny dropped, said Mr McKenzie.

"When I picked her up for her weekly shopping trip I asked her about the money and told her I had found it.

He took her to Bexleyheath police station but the pair were astonished to be told she could not have it.

Despite being accompanied by Mr McKenzie who had actually handed the cash over, the pensioner was told only the officer who had accepted the money could return it and she was not on duty.

The station promised the constable would contact the pensioner and arrange to have the money returned but she has heard nothing.

She told News Shopper: "I have now handed the matter over to my solicitor."

She added: "If I ever found anything in the street, the police are the last people I would hand it over to. I am so incensed about this."

A spokesman for Bexleyheath police said as the cash was not found in the street, it was standard procedure for the officer in charge to satisfy herself the claimant was the owner of the money before releasing it.