A brave Spar worker led customers to safety as a masked knifeman raided the store. The female member of staff has been praised by workmates after she ushered a woman and her grandchild and a man into the store room during the terrifying robbery in Tameside.
Detectives are appealing for information after £3,000 was stolen in the robbery on Sunnyside Road in Droylsden at around 10.15am on Friday. Police have released a CCTV image of a man wearing a balaclava they want to speak to.
A staff member, who asked not to be named, described her workmate as a 'very brave lady'. She said: "I was in the back when he came in. One of the staff in the office saw him on CCTV and pressed the alarm for the police.
"The staff member on the shop floor, she came out behind the counter. There was a lady with her grandchild at the till and an elderly gentleman. She took them into the store room and let him (the robber) do what he needed to do.
"She's a very brave lady. She was a lot calmer than I would have been.
"There's a gap between the till and the Post Office. He squeezed through there and just took money from the till and the Post Office and left the shop. It was over in a couple of minutes.
"Now it's just a fear. You're watching the door all the time because you just don't know who's going to come in."
Armed police rushed to the store following reports that a man with a weapon was 'causing a disturbance'.
Det Sgt Pete Goddard, of our Ashton-under-Lyne CID, said: "One can only try and begin to imagine the shock and fear that those inside the shop will have felt when the offender cowardly came in with his face covered and made threats while wielding what we think was a knife.
"I know the image we have at this stage isn't ideal, but we're working with all available leads we can find and should a more distinctive image become available then we'll come back to ask for further information if we're still unable to identify the man in the CCTV image that we've released today."
Anyone with information is asked to call 0161 856 9262 quoting incident 975 of October 28, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
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