DOZENS of drivers were left open to credit card fraud after receipts containing their details were dumped, it has been claimed.

About 100 receipts - complete with peoples' names, credit card numbers and the cards' start and expiry dates - were found in a driveway in Southampton city centre.

Mike Favell, of Bassett Avenue, Bassett, discovered the loose receipts in a pile outside his house. They all came from the Total service station on the Chilworth roundabout and date back to November.

Mike, who is 60 and retired, said: "I was very concerned when I found them. They were all loose and scattered on my driveway, like someone had just thrown them there.

"It's either an accident, incompetence, a disgruntled employee, or something more sinister.

"The garage should be very concerned and a lot of customers will be concerned. Anybody could have picked them up and, if they had got into the wrong hands, all these people's credit card details are available."

Identity theft is currently a major problem in the UK and the advice from the Home Office is to shred all personal documents before throwing them away - including receipts.

Mike has now handed the receipts in to the police.

A spokesman for Total said: "It is against company policy for any secure documents to leave the site unless they are shredded and placed in a secure shredding bag.

"We are investigating what happened in this instance and will ensure that it doesn't happen again."

Trading Standards recommends documents containing personal details be shredded before being thrown away to avoid the risk of identity theft or fraud.

Malcolm Thornton, Trading Standards team leader at Southampton City Council, said: "We would advise that any literature which contains personal information - including names, addresses and especially any bank details - should be either shredded or torn up before being discarded.

"Identity theft is a growing problem nationally and people should not be complacent and think that this will never happen to them."