A YOUNG mum says she is struggling to afford to feed her baby after her purse containing £300 was stolen from a bus.

Ashley Hayes, aged 18, left her blue and white striped purse on the number eight First bus as she alighted at Moor Lane bus station on Tuesday.

She realised what had happened as it drove away, so she rang the bus company — who searched the bus after it returned to the depot — but the purse, also containing bank cards and milk stamps, was gone.

Miss Hayes now has no money to buy her five-month-old baby daughter Elizabeth her special milk and has even has to collect a food parcel from Urban Outreach in Bolton.

She said: “I’m so angry and upset. I have been left penniless thanks to that person’s dishonesty.

“Elizabeth needs anti-reflux milk which costs £11 a bottle, but I can’t afford that now and normal milk makes her ill.

“I know I left the purse but anyone who looked in there would see it belonged to a young mother because of the milk coupons in there.

“I only realised when I got off the bus but it was too late.

“I spoke to the police but there’s nothing they can really do because no one has come forward.

“I just hope the person can live with their conscience.”

A police spokesman said: “At about 5.30pm at Moor Lane bus station a purse was left on the number eight bus with cash inside it. No arrests have been made.”

Anyone with information can call police on 101.