A violinist busking in the city centre was robbed of his earnings after a man stole the change basket in front of him.

Andrew Hubbard was busking on St Peter’s Street last Friday when a man came over, took a basket of coins and ran.

Andrew said: “He did what old ladies sometimes do, they say ‘oh dear, you shouldn’t leave your money here’.

“He just came along, put 50p or a pound in and tidied up the money. I thought any second now he’s going to say ‘watch out mate, you could get things nicked round here’.

“Instead, he put his hand on the basket and looked at me and then ran really fast, which to me was saying ‘c’mon then, see if you can catch me’.”

After chasing the man down the street, he dropped the basket, leaving Andrew with some of the money left.

He said: “He took about £10- £20. The most important thing was the baskets really, I’ll have to spend ages and ages hunting for a new pair of baskets that match.”

As a regular busker in St Albans, it was not the first time Andrew has had his earnings stolen.

He said: “There was a crowd of teenagers who dared their mate to do it. He put it up his jumper and ran off and then as I chased him, he dropped it.”

Not put off by the incident, Andrew remained optimistic about his day in St Albans. He said: “I sold some CDs and had a few gig enquiries.”

Police tracked down the man who allegedly stole the money but Andrew decided not to press charges.