A POSTMASTER and his wife were tied-up and kidnapped by raiders during a terrifying ordeal.

The Padiham couple were then abandoned 25 miles away in Preston.

Police were alerted at 8.55am today after a passer-by spotted the couple in their own car.

Neighbouring shopkeepers said the post office in Burnley Road, Padiham, is run by husband and wife Roger and Yvonne Clarkson.

Officers immediately sealed off the area surrounding the post office, the couple's home and the road where they were discovered in the car in Preston.

It is not known at this stage if firearms were used or if the post office was raided. Detectives said the incident happened overnight.

Officers from the Scenes of Crime Unit sealed off the post office this morning to make a detailed search of the premises.

Louisa Hargreaves, owner of J-Lo's hairdresser's next door but one to the post office, said: "We came to work this morning at 9am and police were swarming round the post office, all the nearby streets were cordoned off and people have been left wondering what has been going on."

A police spokesman said: "We are still waiting to interview the post master and post mistress.

"We think that the couple may have been left in the car overnight."