IMPORTANT blood samples being taken from a Kent hospital to a specialist laboratory in London have vanished.

A motorbike courier who left Medway Maritime Hospital yesterday afternoon lost a consignment of 14 blood samples somewhere along the route to the capital.

The samples vanished somewhere between the Gillingham hospital and the Bean interchange and the Bean interchange, near Bluewater. The courier's route was from Gillingham town centre to the Medway Tunnel and then onto the A2.

The lost samples were packed in ice in a white polystyrene 12inch cube container bearing the following address, Haemophilla and Haemostasis Department, Royal Free Hospital, Pond Street, London NW3.

A spokesman for Medway Maritime Hospital said: "The risk to the public is absolutely minimal. If a member of the public finds this container, or parts of it, they should leave it and contact the police.

"Medway NHS Trust is conducting an urgent investigation into this matter in conjunction with the courier."