Shropshire Star

Worker held at knifepoint

A masked robber escaped with £6,000 after holding a worker at knifepoint in a raid at a Telford car dealership. A masked robber escaped with £6,000 after holding a worker at knifepoint in a raid at a Telford car dealership. The member of staff had a knife held to his throat and the raider, who was wearing a green mask, demanded to know where the cash was kept. The office clerk at Telford Car Centre in Oakengates denied there was any money on the premises at first, but he eventually gave in and showed the robber where the cash was kept. Read the full story in today's Shropshire Star

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A masked robber escaped with £6,000 after holding a worker at knifepoint in a raid at a Telford car dealership.

The member of staff had a knife held to his throat and the raider, who was wearing a green mask, demanded to know where the cash was kept.

The office clerk at Telford Car Centre in Oakengates denied there was any money on the premises at first, but he eventually gave in and showed the robber where the cash was kept.

The robber raided the drawer the cash was in before making his escape by jumping into a black car that had been parked close to the dealership off Oxford Street.

Police today described the incident, which happened between 12.35pm and 12.45pm on Sunday, as frightening but said the member of staff had not been harmed.

However, Matthew Williams, owner of car dealership, said the raid had frightened his staff and the victim was "shaken up".

"I was not there when it happened but I have looked at the CCTV and the guy came in with a knife and put it up to my employee's throat," he said.

"He contacted me straight away after it happened and he has been shaken up by what happened."

The robber and the driver of the black car are believed to have staked out the garage for 20 minutes before the raid took place.

Chris Ammonds, spokesman for Telford police, said: "This was a frightening incident for the staff member present but thankfully he was not harmed during the robbery. There are a couple of potentially crucial witnesses that investigating officers have identified from CCTV images and are now extremely keen to trace.

"The first witness is a lady who returned to her car with her shopping between 12.15pm and 12.35pm while the black car used by the robbers was waiting close to the bottle bank. It is believed that she may have had a good view of the robber and his driver waiting in the car prior to the robbery."

He said police are also keen to speak to the driver or occupant of a large white box van that was parked close to the bottle bank.

The robber is described as white, about 6ft tall and of stocky build. He was wearing a black hooded jumper and blue jeans with the number 96 on a back pocket.

By Jason Lavan

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