A man in his 80’s has reported £70,000 of cash missing after he left a black holdall stuffed full of foreign in the luggage area of a National Express coach travelling from Heathrow to Portsmouth on Tuesday.

The elderly man had just flown into Heathrow Airport after travelling from his home in Thailand with his life savings of £70,000 packed into a black holdall. After touching down in the UK, the gentleman boarded a National Express coach bound for Portsmouth, depositing his bag packed full with £70,000 made up in Australian dollars and Thai baht, in the luggage compartment of the coach.

It’s been reported that the elderly man had transported his life savings over to the UK as he intended to purchase a property in this country, however his plans have been severely scuppered after the huge amount of cash went missing during the coach trip.

The coach departed Heathrow at 4:45pm on Tuesday afternoon, although the bag containing the £70,000 wasn’t reported missing until just before 8pm that evening when the service arrived in Portsmouth following a number of scheduled stop-offs along the route.

It’s possible the bag may have been taken by mistake, although no other bag was left in its place. In the event that the bag stuffed with foreign currency was stolen, the police are warning banks and shopkeepers to be wary of anyone attempting to exchange or pay with large quantities of cash in Australian dollars or Thai baht.

The police are urging anyone who travelled on the coach service to get in touch so that they can be eliminated from their enquiries.