A SHOPKEEPER feared acid had been splashed into his face during a horrifying robbery.

Alpesh Patel was working alone at the Spar in Wimborne Road, Winton at around 10pm on Friday when the contents of an aerosol can were sprayed into his eyes.

Around £400 was stolen from the till during the raid, which was carried out by two men.

It followed a similar robbery just two days earlier, during which a female shop assistant was sprayed in the face with an unknown substance at the Co-op in Oakdale Road, Poole.

Two men were behind the attack.

Mr Patel, who has managed the Spar for around two years, called the incident “shocking and very scary”.

“I’m very worried because it could have been my wife working here instead of me,” he said.

“I could have lost my eyes. I was worried that it was acid.

“They used the spray as a weapon.”

CCTV shows the two men waiting outside the branch for other customers to leave before walking in and picking up an item.

They then walked to the counter and handed over money.

As Mr Patel opened the till, one of the men sprayed something from an aerosol can into his eyes.

The other then reached into the till drawer and stole cash.

Mr Patel said: “It was so quick – it all happened very quickly.

“They stole around £300 or £400 from the till.

“They were waiting for me to open the till before they sprayed me.

“It happened just after I told one of my members of staff to take a break, so I was by myself at the time.”

Mr Patel has suffered blurred vision since the robbery.

However, he managed to chase the men out into the street, and saw them both get into a silver Peugeot parked in Wycliffe Road.

He said: “My vision is still very blurry.

“I have to go back to see a doctor. I recently had eye surgery and so I’m very worried about it.”

Mr Patel paid around £4,000 to have CCTV cameras installed at his shop.

“This is a very bad, dangerous street to work on,” he said.

“You hear of problems in shops here all the time. We have shoplifters every single day, which is why we got such good CCTV cameras."

UPDATE: A 35-year-old man from Hemel Hempstead has been arrested on suspicion of robbery and is currently assisting police with enquiries. A second suspect is still outstanding, police say.