ARMED robbers wearing masks escaped with a large amount of cash after smashing their way into a bank.

Police said at least two robbers forced their way into the back of the HSBC in High Street, Rishton.

Once inside the bank, staff were threatened by the raiders who were brandishing weapons, forcing them to hand over cash, detectives said.

Detectives said they could not reveal how much was stolen and would only say that a ‘substantial amount of cash’ was taken during the robbery.

They smashed their way into the bank at around 1.30pm yesterday and left within minutes. No-one was injured, but staff were left “shaken” and “extremely traumatised”.

Officers were in the early stages of interviewing HSBC staff yesterday but ruled out firearms being used as part of the robbery.

However Detective Inspector Steve Dowson said he believed the raid was well organised and involved “an element of pre-planning”.

A dark coloured A-Class Mercedes was seen driving from the scene and was found shortly afterwards abandoned and torched near to Rishton Cricket Club.

Residents and shop owners on the busy main road said they only realised a raid had taken place when police arrived at the scene, but were left shocked that such a raid could happen in a small close knit town.

The corner of Commercial Street was closed while police and forensic teams carried out investigations during the afternoon.

DI Steve Dowson said: “This is a very shocking incident for staff.

“It is clearly a well organised attack on the premises. There is an element of pre-planning involved.

“This was an extremely traumatic experience for the staff in the bank.

“Shortly after the robbery we recovered the getaway vehicle, an A Class Mercedes, which the offenders had tried to set on fire. Forensic teams are currently examining this vehicle and Crime Scene Investigators are at the scene of the robbery.”

A shop owner in High Street, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “It is shocking, we didn’t hear or see anything.

"This is a close knit community, we only heard what had happened when police arrived at the scene.

"It's a quiet area where everyone knows each other. It’s a shock. Nothing like this has happened before.”

Another said: “We close for lunch around 1pm and open up about 2.30pm.

"When we reopened there was police everywhere and we didn’t know what had happened.”

Another shop owner who had been open at the time said: “We only found out something had happened when police arrived at the scene.

"It was around 1.30pm we weren’t aware a robbery had taken place.”

Anyone who saw the Mercedes or anything suspicious in the area either before or after the robbery is asked to contact police on 0845 125 3545, Accrington CID on 01254 353741 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.