Tory mayor candidate leaves card on Tube – and still blames Sadiq Khan for rising crime

The Tories’ challenger for next year’s London mayoral election has somehow managed to blame Sadiq Khan after she appeared to leave her Oyster card on the Tube by accident.

Susan Hall said she got off the London Underground on Monday to find her travel card missing.

She initially said she had been pickpocketed, blaming “out of control” crime in London under Khan’s mayorship.

But in an interview this morning, Hall revealed she’d already got it back because a kind passer-by had found it on the Tube attached to her business card.

She told LBC: “Somebody phoned me and said they’d seen somebody sitting on it.”

She added that it was “most odd” and that “there was some cash in there and that was still there”.

Oops.

People on social media were quick to mock Hall, who is a Conservative councillor in London.

One person said: “Dear Susan Hall. Thieves do not return things. You dropped it.”

Another said: “Hmmm. I couldn't find my car keys this morning. I blame the Mayor…”

A third added: “Susan Hall is the only person in London's history who has been a victim of ‘pickpocketing’ who managed to retrieve her items completely intact.

“It's almost as if she wasn't pickpocketed at all.”

That didn’t stop her blaming Khan for rising theft and robberies in London, however.

Hall said: “Things are going very wrong in Sadiq Khan’s London. We need to address crime as a number one subject.”

To her credit, pickpocket thefts on the Tube more than doubled in the space of a year, figures show.

Thefts hit a record high of 7,899 in 2022, British Transport Police data shows – more than twice the 3,380 seen in 2021, when overall Tube usage levels were lower.

However, social media users pointed out that perhaps, rather than blaming Khan, this might be an occasion to be positive about Londoners and the kindness of strangers, rather than stoking fear.

“She dropped her wallet, someone handed it in... With all the money still in it…” said one person, adding that it was “quite heart warming”.

Thank god for random acts of kindness, eh?

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