A pair of councillors are offering a £1,000 reward for the return of their car after it was stolen in a suspected Hanoi-style burglary.

Queensbury Independent councillors Lynda and Paul Cromie initially thought they had thrown out the keys to the black Nissan Trailer X with the left-overs of a Chinese take-away.

However, the vehicle then disappeared from the couple’s driveway in Station Road, Queensbury , three weeks later.

Mr Cromie said: “I had to eat humble pie and apologise to Lynda. She leaves the keys all over instead of one place and I blamed her for losing them. I thought they’d got thrown out with the remnants of a Chinese takeaway – either that or they’d turn up later.

“She’d been using her second set but then, three weeks later, the car disappeared. The police say it must have been a Hanoi burglary. We haven’t claimed on the insurance yet because we’d rather have the car back. That’s why we’re offering a reward for information that gets it back to us.”

Mr Cromie said he and his wife believe they were the victims of a sneak-in burglar who grabbed the keys before coming back for the car weeks later in the early hours of August 21.

He said: “There’s CCTV footage of the car being driven off just after midnight but, apart from that, the police are still looking for it.

“It’s left us totally paranoid now. We’re locking everything up and hiding everything. We’re even thinking about getting electronic gates for the drive.

“We must have been in the house or out in the garage when the keys were taken in the first place. It’s hopefully going to be a warning to other people to keep their doors locked and keys hidden. It’s a good idea to take them up to bed with you at night. We’ve learned our lesson at a cost and just hope it might help other people not fall victim to this kind of racket.”

A police spokesman confirmed the car had been reported stolen and said anyone with information should call police on 101.