Valuable guitar 'lost in post'

A guitar worth thousands of pounds which was to be auctioned to raise funds for a childrens' charity has been lost in the post.

Eric Clapton, Queen's Brian May, Jimmy Page and Dire Straits front man Mark Knopfler were among some of the musicians who signed a Fender Stratocaster to raise cash for Loughborough-based charity Rainbows.

It took nearly a year for music promoter Dave Allen to collect them and he had hoped to raise at least £20,000 in an internet auction later this month.

But the guitar vanished while in the care of courier firm Parcelforce.

Mr Allen said: "I was devastated when I found out. I was in a state of shock. It was the first and only time we had let the guitar out of our hands. We had taken it around personally. But this time, with other commitments, we had it dropped off."

Parcelforce apologised and agreed to donate £15,000 to Rainbows.

Other names on the lost instrument included Pete Townshend of The Who, Bill Wyman, Gary Moore and Hollywood actor and sometime blues musician Steven Seagal. Mr Allen had also hoped to secure the signatures of Keith Richards and Bruce Springsteen.

Parcelforce has spent the past month searching all of its depots for the guitar, and examined CCTV footage.

A spokesman said: "We apologise sincerely for the loss of this item and continue our efforts to trace the parcel."

Last year, an autographed Stratocaster featuring the signatures of Clapton, Sir Paul McCartney and Sting, among others, fetched a record £1.3 million.

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