STAFF paperwork, including salary slips and National Insurance numbers, have been found abandoned at a disused factory.

Files containing private information on people who worked at the Lorival factory in Little Lever were found by workmen.

The files hold thousands of papers which detail information such as full names, National Insurance numbers, salaries, family contact details and job descriptions.

The find comes days after it was revealed that identity theft - where criminals steal a person's identity from papers thrown out in the rubbish to obtain passports, credit or money - affects more than 100,000 people a year and costs the economy more than £1.3 billion a year in fraud.

The files were found in one of several cupboards left on the site which are all full of paperwork including wage slips.

Demolition workers moved in last week and have filled hundreds of skips with old furniture, lighting and flooring.

Security guard Chris Wilson, who found the files, said: "I couldn't believe it when I came across the files. It would have been so easy for someone to steal these people's identities because every detail they need is there.

"The files were just going to go into the skip with everything else, but I pulled them back.

"I know if I was one of these people who had worked here, I'd hate the thought of people being able to find out my details so easily."

The paperwork will now be burned.

The factory closed in 2001 when more than 200 people, mostly from Little Lever, were made redundant. Housing firm Wilson Connelly bought the site and five derelict buildings are being demolished to make way for 180 houses.