A SHOPWORKER resisted a knife-wielding robber who told her to empty the till by saying: ‘I beg your pardon?’

The brave woman, who works at Dave’s Newsagents, Brierfield, then pressed the alarm and chased the robber out of the shop empty-handed.

Yesterday, the woman was too traumatised to speak about Monday’s incident or be photographed, but the shop owner released CCTV images in an effort to catch the offender.

Dave Holgate, owner of the Burnley Road newsagents, also spoke of how proud he was of the woman, who has worked alongside him at the shop for 40 years.

He said: “This guy came in while I was out of the shop. He was walking around looking shifty and she felt like something wasn’t right.

“She said to him, ‘can I help you?’ He approached the counter, put a bag down and took a large knife out.

“He was brandishing this knife in front of her. It must have been terrifying.

“He said to her, ‘give me the money out of the till’, and she said ‘I beg your pardon?’ “She stepped back and pressed the button activating the alarm to the police.

“The robber started to do a runner and she chased after him. She chased him out of the shop and down the road.

“I should imagine it would have been very frightening for her. There will only have been a couple of feet between the two of them.

“I’m so proud of her. She kept her head level and didn’t panic or anything.

“The police have told her she handled it very well. She’s quite shy usually and I’m sure it will stay with her.

“I’ve no idea how I would have reacted. It’s one of those situations where you can’t know what you’d do until it happens.”

A spokeswoman for Lancashire Police said the incident happened at around 12.30pm on Monday.

She said: “Nothing was taken and nobody was injured.

“Enquiries are ongoing and we would urge anyone with any information regarding the incident to get in touch with us.

“This was an extremely upsetting incident for the woman involved. Thankfully, she wasn’t physically hurt.”

Anyone with any information is asked to ring police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.