Two held in raid probe

The incident happened just before 9am at Morrisons in Mill Street, Kirkham, an hour after the store opened for business.

Police say the security guards were threatened by two men who forced them to hand over a substantial amount of cash, before fleeing the scene in a silver Mercedes.

No one was hurt in the incident but it left several 
early-morning shoppers badly shaken.

“You just do not expect to see something like that when you go out for a walk in the area where you live,” said one woman, who lived on a road close to the store but did not wish to be named.

“It make me feel very uneasy, especially to think that something like this can happen at a time when parents are dropping off their children at school and there are so many people about.”

Damian Buckley, who owns DCB Computing, opposite Morrisons, said he was not surprised to hear news of the robbery.

“My premises got broken into a few months after I opened four years ago,” he said.

“The bank across the road has been raided and I think half the problem is that you don’t see as many police officers patrolling the streets as you used to.

“It gives people an opportunity to do these types of things.”

The Mercedes used in the robbery was later recovered on Station Road in Kirkham.

A second vehicle, a silver Vauxhall Astra, which is believed to have been used by the offenders, was later stopped near to Junction 1 on the M65.

Two men aged 45 and 41, both from Liverpool, have been arrested on suspicion of robbery and theft of a motor vehicle and are in custody.