Hammer robber terrifies worker

The raider, wearing a ski-mask, struck when the 23-year-old was on duty alone at the Bottoms Up store in Marchmont Road at around 9pm yesterday.

He brandished the hammer at her before running off in the direction of the Meadows with a quantity of cigarettes and around 20 in cash.

Store manager Andrew Lundie said the attack had been captured on CCTV and the tapes had been handed to the police. The shop assistant, he said, was unhurt but badly shaken.

He added:

"This is not something that staff who are doing a job serving the public should have to suffer."

The attack has highlighted the issue of the safety of shop assistants who work alone, particularly at night.

The question of their safety was raised by union leaders last year, following a spate of robberies in Edinburgh and across the rest of the country.

Police have visited off-licences across the city to give staff crime prevention advice, and most premises now have two staff on at all times.

Mr Lundie said his company would have to look at improving security for staff in the wake of yesterday’s attack. He said he had raised the issue of staff working alone at night with the head office on several occasions.

The robber police are hunting in connection with the latest attack is described as white, just under six feet tall and slim. He was wearing a blue or black jacket, lighter-coloured trousers and dark shoes.

Police today appealed for anyone with information to come forward. A spokesman said: "There was no-one else in the store and so anyone that might have seen the man entering or leaving the premises, or who has any information about the robbery, should contact us as soon as possible."

He added that detectives were not linking the raid to any other recent robberies.

Police in the Capital are also hunting a "brazen" robber who is believed to have targeted three city-centre banks in less than a fortnight.

The raider is thought to have targeted the Yorkshire Building Society and Clydesdale Bank in Hanover Street as well as the Abbey branch in Shandwick Place. Police have warned that he is armed and dangerous.

The robber escaped with thousands of pounds in two of the three raids, although he left the Abbey empty-handed. All three raids took place in broad daylight and the raider has been seen carrying a handgun.

There is no suggestion that the off-licence raid is connected with the bank robberies.

Former Victoria Wine employee Jacqueline Collins was awarded 179,000 after taking her employers to court following a raid on the city store she worked in.

Two masked raiders held her at knife point in the Slateford Road store in 1998, despite her repeated pleas to improve security at the shop, which had suffered five robberies in the previous eight years.

During the case she said another colleague had been pistol whipped during a previous robbery, and told how the robber had placed a knife at her throat which she thought would kill her.

The firm said it had not installed a metal protective screen due to fears that it would put off customers.