Drinks raid leaves shop cashier shaken

Vijay Patel was threatened when he tried to stop the raiders stealing bottles of alcohol from St George’s News in the Deepdale area of Preston.

“The men became very aggressive and threatening,” said shop owner Sailesh Patel.

“I’ve always said to my staff not to tackle anyone because you never know if they have a knife or any sort of weapon. It’s not worth getting hurt over a few bottles of spirits.

“So Vijay moved back behind the coiunter for his own safety and the men ran off. It was very upsetting for him, but at least he wasn’t injured.”

The raid happened around 8.45pm on Monday as Vijay was in the shop on his own. Sailesh said two men entered the shop, with the third man standing outside the door.

“The man outside was trying to distract Vijay while his two accomplices were messing about near the spirit counter,” he said.

“Vijay went over to challenge them. He suspected they had stolen some alcohol and passed it to the man outside. So he told them to leave.

“At that point they started to get really aggressive and abusive. Vijay said they were right up in his face threatening him. As he moved back they kept coming forward and pushing him against the counter.

“I’ve been in this shop for 39 years and, while we’ve had incidents of shoplifting, I’ve never known anything like this in all that time.”

The stolen alcohol included two bottles of Ciroc vodka and two bottles of After Shock.