A SOCIAL worker left a bag containing confidential client information lying in the street.

A concerned passer-by saw the black bicycle saddle bag sitting on a wall and, realising it had been forgotten, picked it up.

The woman was appalled to find a laptop and a notebook with names and personal details of people in her community.

The woman, who asked not to be named, said: "Social work hold other people to extremely high standards and so they should be leading the way, setting an example.

"It's a disgrace that this was left lying around.

"The information in the notebook is really personal - I would hate to think that my information would be left to be found like that.

"At the time I found it, I saw a man cycling off down the road but I have no idea if it was his or not."

The woman found the bag last Friday and says she didn't immediately hand it in because she was running late to pick her daughters up from school.

With social work offices closed over the weekend, she kept it at home for safety.

But then the mum, after taking advice from a colleague, began to worry she would be charged with the crime of "theft by finding" and so brought the bag to the Evening Times.

The notebook, which has been securely returned by the Evening Times to social work services, contains intensely personal details about child clients and their families.

This includes full names, dates, medical issues and even criminal histories of children and families in the north of the city.

The notes, by a Drumchapel Social Work office staff member who the Evening Times has chosen not to name, paint a glum portrait of the lives of children in the city.

One child detailed in the notebook is reported to have scabies and a parent with alcohol issues.

Another self harms while one teenager has racked up a slew of 20 car crime charges and is at risk of being accommodated in a secure unit.

Yet another is a victim of sexual exploitation.

Parents are listed as having drug debts while one mother sold her television on Christmas Day to try to offset debts.

There are notes on domestic abuse, parental crime and of a premature baby with serious heart defect.

One short but devastating note reads: “Likes Star Wars. Has no friends at school.”

The woman who found the bag added: "Everyone makes mistakes but this really concerns me.

"This is really concerning information and it scares me that it was left lying out."

A Glasgow City Council spokesman, on behalf of the social work department, said: "This incident will be investigated.

"Information security is an absolute priority for the council.”