I didn’t report stolen credit card as the thief spent less than my wife, says ex-police chief
A FORMER police chief who has joined the House of Lords told fellow peers yesterday that he did not report his wife’s stolen credit card, because the thief was spending less than she did.
Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate told the Lords: “Is the minister aware that, on one of her rare visits to London, my wife had her credit card stolen?
“I monitored the use of the card and I have to say I didn’t report it to the police, because the thief was spending less than she was.”
The non-affiliated peer’s deadpan delivery appeared to leave the chamber unsure as to whether he was joking or not, and his comments were met with laughter. However, in response, Baroness Vere of Norbiton, a Treasury minister, said: “I think, in these circumstances, one should always report these matters to the police.”
Lord Mackenzie, a former chief superintendent in the Durham Constabulary and ex-president of the Police Superintendents Association, has been a peer since 1998.
He was a special adviser to Jack Straw, then home secretary, between 1998 and 2001 and was formerly affiliated to the Labour Party before becoming a crossbench member of the Lords in 2013.
He made the comments during a debate on electronic payment machines and whether the Government had asked providers on how to make them accessible for those with a visual impairment.
Baroness Vere told the Lords that the Treasury was monitoring the impact of consumer duty regulations on disabled and other vulnerable customers.
Lord Blunkett, the former Labour home secretary, who had introduced the debate, told the minister: “I would like to invite the minister out to dinner, and I promise to pay if there is a flat screen that I can access.”
She responded: “Now that is a first at the Dispatch Box. I have been invited on to buses and trains but never out to dinner. I do not know what to say to that, but I will try to find a restaurant that has an appropriate touch screen and I would be happy to continue the conversation.”