A TEENAGE boy has been accused of threatening a takeaway worker with a firearm in an attempted robbery.

The 16-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, allegedly held up the Yips Chinese takeaway in Blackburn Road, Darwen.

He has been charged with attempted robbery, firearms offences and drink driving after he allegedly fled on a scooter.

The boy is due to appear before Blackburn Youth Court on Thursday.

Police said that at around 9.45pm on Saturday a male armed with a .177 air pistol went into the takeaway and demanded money from the shop assistant, a 42-year-old woman.

The woman fled into the back of the shop and phoned the police and the male, who was wearing a motorcycle crash helmet, left the shop empty handed.

Yesterday the shop worker, who would only give her name as June, said the incident had left her “terrified”, but said she would not let it stop her working.

She said he walked into the shop just before closing time and said “give me the money from the tray” and pointed the gun at the till behind the counter.

June said: “I saw the weapon straight away and knew it was a gun. Nothing like that had ever happened before and I just froze, I was so scared.

“It is all a bit of a blur what happened but I ran into the back and told the manager what had happened. We locked ourselves away and watched on the CCTV what was happening.

“He stayed in the shop for one or two minutes but then he left. It was very scary.”

She said that she had been nervous since returning to work the next day but said it would not stop her working.