Susan Hall, the Conservative candidate for mayor of London, told LBC she was pickpocketed while on the London Underground. (LBC/X)
Susan Hall, the Conservative candidate for the London mayoral election, has been mocked over claims she had a card wallet stolen on the London Underground.
After losing it on a journey, it was later returned to Hall, with all its contents – including cash – still inside. The mayoral candidate used the incident to criticise “Sadiq Kahn’s London” and explain why she will be successful in the election next year.
Speaking to LBC, Hall explained the bizarre incident during which she was allegedly pickpocketed, losing her Oyster card wallet – which contained her travel card, business cards and some cash – before an unknown person returned the wallet to her.
“I have to tell you, I’m the luckiest woman in the world because I’ve actually got it back,” she told radio host Nick Ferrari.
It wasn’t until the end of her journey that she discovered her card wallet was missing, she said.
“I have very, very deep pockets in my winter coat which I keep it in or kept it in. I will never do that again, I’ll lock it in my handbag.”
Hall claimed that during her journey from Westminster to Pinner, on the Jubilee and Metropolitan lines in the mid-afternoon, someone was “fiddling around beside me and pushing and shoving”.
She said when she got home she had a call from someone who had seen a person sitting on her Oyster card holder. The caller had recognised her thanks to the business cards.
Hall said the caller asked the person sitting on the card if it was his, to which he responded no, and handed the card over, allowing them to call Hall and return it.
However, Hall, a former leader of the Conservatives on the London Assembly, framed the incident as a crime.
“In Sadiq Khan’s London, thefts are up 31 per cent, robberies are up 58 per cent, last year was the highest year for pickpocketing on the Underground,” she said, before urging people to stay safe.
“Crime is a number one subject,” she concluded.
According to crimerate.co.uk, police reports regarding theft increased by 47 per cent between 2021 and 2022, with 98,781 crime reports being received.
Many listeners have pointed out the discrepancies in Hall’s story on X/Twitter, and one user mockingly added sad music to her interview.
Another made fun of Hall’s interview, posting: “They’re making this crushingly dull non-story into a film and Laurence Fox has just missed out on the role of Susan Hall”.
And one social media user wrote: “Bin collection day calendars are more thrilling than this.”
Many believed that there was no pickpocket, claiming that Hall simply dropped her card wallet and it was handed back.
In October, she faced calls to step down after a poll found that two-thirds of Londoners believed her social media activity to be racist, according to The Guardian.
The outcome of the poll followed Hall, who has been backed by PM Rishi Sunak, allegedly liking racist tweets on the platform.