A MAN who was threatened with a kitchen knife during an attempted robbery, turned the tables on the would-be offender when he chased him out of a shop.

The attempted robbery happened at Baldock Convenience Store in London Road.

The cashier, Chandrakasan Selvanayagam who had been in the shop alone said: “I was closing the shop up, and getting things together when he came in asking for money. He put his hand on my shoulder and showed me the knife. He kept saying ‘I have a knife, I will kill you, hurry up, hurry up’.

The 32-year-old who has worked at the store for the past three years said he was shaking and nervous when he saw the knife.

“I tried to open the till but I couldn’t,” he said.

The offender put down the knife on the table near the till and attempted to open the cash register himself.

“It all happened very quickly,” said Mr Selvanayagam.

“He asked me ‘how do you open the till?’ He had put down the knife so I picked it up and chased him out. I was on my own and this has never happened before.”

The offender, who is described as a white male, aged between 18 and 25,, approximately 5’8” in height and of slim build ran off towards Mons Avenue.

Owner of the store, Nadarajah Mohan said: “Baldock is a very quiet place, I have been here for seven years and nothing like this has happened before.”

Mr Mohan said he and his staff were now very scared to stay in the shop alone.

“I am now looking to get another member of staff for the night shift, so that we are not on our own,” he said.

“We are in shock.”

The offender was wearing a grey-hooded top, black balaclava, dark trousers and black gloves.

Detective sergeant, Ben Wright, who is investigating the incident, said: “This was an audacious act and we are determined to bring the individual responsible to justice.

“I would urge anyone who may have been in the area at the time of the incident or who saw a male matching the description of the man running from the incident shortly afterwards to call us without delay.”

Anyone with information on the incident, which happaned at around 8.45pm on Sunday, January 20, can contact DS Wright on 101 quoting crime reference number: G3/13/30 or alternatively call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.