POPULAR Stourbridge artist and comedy writer Geoff Tristram says he felt like thieves had stolen Christmas after they made off with his car which was crammed full of his own artwork and books.

The 59-year-old from Eggington Road, Wollaston, left his car parked outside a hair salon in Tamworth to ask for directions when opportunists struck and made off with it - complete with a treasure trove of artwork, greetings cards and books which were packed inside.

The grey Hyundai 130 was full of items Geoff had packaged up in readiness for his latest comedy talk.

But struggling to find the venue, he jumped out of the car to ask for directions - and left the keys in the ignition which means the theft will not be covered by insurance.

Geoff said: "I pulled up outside a hairdressers for 20 seconds and in the time it took me to do that it had gone. I just can't believe it."

As well as his £7,000 car - four prints of his famous cat paintings were also taken along with 60 greetings cards, a large box of 55 cartoon books worth £8.99 each, ten jigsaws, an extendable black projector screen, a silver flight case style box containing a cream digital projector, a presentation slide changer with a small black bag, a clear box containing a pair of black speakers, a leather laptop case containing a brand new silver Hewlett Packard laptop with the word Pavillion on the side and the HP logo, and a black TomTom sat nav.

The incident happened outside Solo's hairdressing salon in Victoria Street, Tamworth, at around 6pm on Wednesday December 11.

The car was reportedly recovered by police last night (Monday December 16) but Geoff was today waiting to hear whether any of his items or merchandise had also been found with it.

Anyone with information the incident or offered any of the items for sale should contact Staffordshire Police on 101, quoting incident number 573 of December 11.

People can also call independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.