MACHETE-wielding raiders could have tailed a security van from Manchester to Rossendale before holding up guards as they filled a cash machine, it was revealed today.

Detectives hunting the masked raiders, who held up the Securicor van at the BP Rossendale Service Station garage, Waterfoot, said they were not ruling out the possibility the guards had been followed.

The three robbers, wearing black ski masks and armed with machetes, pounced on two workers as they were filling the ATM at the Bacup Road filling station at about 7.15am yesterday.

One of the workers was through a door at the side of the kiosk when the offenders jumped out of a stolen silver Toyota Avensis, and shoved the other guard to the ground of the packed forecourt.

Demanding cash they threatened the guard and a customer with a machete before escaping with up to three cash boxes containing a "substantial" amount of money.

The cashier and a cleaner, both women, locked the kiosk door and called the police.

The Toyota, registration MA05 ZCV, and stolen from the Radcliffe area of Manchester, was later found abandoned in Burnley Road East. Police, who are working with the Greater Manchester force, believe they transferred their haul into a dark coloured car which possibly travelled towards Rawtenstall.

Yesterday the garage was sealed off and police stood guard as forensic examinations were carried out.

Detective Inspector Marie Jackson appealed for anyone with information to contact police.

She said: "We do not known if the van was followed from its base but we will definitely be following that up.

"We know they arrived in a silver Toyota which was stolen and then transferred to a dark blue vehicle.

"I would urge anyone who saw anything or knows anything about the incident to contact police."

The manageress of the service station, who did not want to be named, today said the cash machine was normally filled on a different day and that she was alerted to the robbery when police raced past her in Bacup Road while she was making her way to work.

She added: "One of the men was in the ATM when they jumped out of the car and threatened the other guard with a machete.

"They had him on the floor and were screaming for him to open the door "It's the busiest time of day and there were lots of customers on the forecourt. They were really brazen.

"The security guard in the back said he had to come out and help his colleague.

"They were saying afterwards they must have been followed from the yard and that they were the first van out.

"They must have been professionals."

The robbery comes just two weeks after Securicor guards were targeted by four people wearing balaclavas at the Abbey bank, Manchester Road, Haslingden.The guards were attacked with sticks and bats but the offenders fled empty handed.

And in the run up to Christmas armed police and helicopters escorted guards delivering cash to banks across East Lancashire Alistair Kellie, spokesman for Securicor, said the company could not comment on whether the van had been followed.