A BURNLEY shopkeeper has spoken of his fear after a knife-wielding masked raider held up his shop.

Mian Khan, 59, was reading the Koran in Queensgate News in Colne Road when a teenager wearing a 'Scream' mask pulled open the wooden gate and came behind the counter brandishing a pen knife and demanding money.

MORE TOP STORIES:

Mr Khan challenged the teenage raider, who escaped empty-handed.

Mr Khan, who has run the family business for ten years, said: "He opened the door and came through the door with a small knife.

"He said 'money, money, money'.

"He just kept asking for money, but I said 'go away' and he ran out of the door.

"I thought he was joking, sometimes they do joke at Halloween time, but if he was joking he would have taken his mask off and he didn't.

"A woman customer came in and she said 'who was that?', and I said I didn't know.

"It was only really when he left that I realised what had happened.

"It's always a worry in this world, and things like this always happen near Christmas."

Queensgate councillor Arif Khan was a newsagent himself for eight years, and said robberies were a constant worry for shopkeepers.

He visits Queensgate News on an almost-daily basis to buy newspapers.

He said: "This could've been serious.

"Thank God he's safe and lost nothing apart from a little confidence.

"I used to be a newsagent myself for eight years, I used to run Duke Bar News.

"The One Stop Shop nearby was robbed twice when I had the newsagent, and the Barclays Bank nearby.

"It was in the back of my mind every morning, because mostly during the day I was on my own.

"Christmas is coming, and at this time of year there are always some desperate people who use desperate measures."

Anyone with information about the robbery can call police on 101 quoting reference number 1200 of November 13 2014.

Alternatively, they can contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at Crimestoppers-uk.org. No personal details are taken, information is not traced or recorded and you will not go to court.