FIVE men dressed in boiler suits and balaclavas escaped with a large quantity of cash after they stormed into a shop in Brookmans Park and threatened staff.

The robbers burst into the Co-op store in Bradmore Green at around 8pm last Thursday. All five men were carrying a weapon.

One man with a screwdriver grabbed a shop assistant by the wrist and forced him to the floor.

Another member of the gang then jumped over the counter and grabbed around £1,500 from the two tills.

Two more men then ran into the back of the store and demanded a supervisor hand over the keys to a safe. The man told the robbers he did not have the key and was threatened with an iron bar.

After failing to get the safe open, all five men ran out the back of the shop into a silver Vauxhall Astra which had been stolen from an address in North Mymms two hours earlier.

Shop manager Atmang Shah, who holds the key to the safe, was not in the shop at the time. He said: “I was called out by the two members of staff. They were extremely shook up and frightened by the whole thing.

“They held an iron bar to the neck of my supervisor and demanded he hand over the keys, but there was nothing he could do. It must have been very scary.” The workers were not injured in the incident, but have since been offered counselling to help them get over the ordeal.

Mr Shah said it is the first time in three years of managing the store he has ever had to deal with anything like this, although he has been burgled three times in the last six months.

On each occasion someone smashed the window of the shop while it was closed and stole cigarettes and alcohol.

Mr Shah has since installed shutters on all the windows and following last week’s robbery has employed security staff to work in the shop.

He was also critical of police who he said took almost half-an-hour to come out to the shop, despite a member of the public dialling 999 when he saw the gang burst in.

He added: “I have CCTV in my shop all the time, but the feedback from police has not been positive. It also took them a long time to come out here, despite being called almost straight away.” The shop was closed for the rest of Thursday night while police teams carried out investigations. The shop re-opened the next day.

Anyone with information about the robbery is asked to contact police on 01707 638234.