A SECURITY guard was injured in a robbery at a Tesco Express store in Christchurch yesterday morning.

Police were alerted to the incident - at the Esso Garage in Barrack Road - at 11.52am and armed officers accompanied by the dog section were dispatched.

A manhunt was subsequently launched for the robbers - two men who made off with a security box full of cash in a silver BMW, which set off for Jumpers Avenue and was found abandoned a short time later in Endfield Road.

The guard, aged in his 50s, and from Loomis Security, had been making a cash deposit delivery at the store.

He suffered a suspected fracture to his hand and was taken to hospital as a precaution.

The offenders were wearing balaclavas and grey tracksuits. No weapon was seen.

The petrol station was cordoned off and forensics officers carried out an investigation of the scene while store staff waited on the forecourt, sustained with refreshments handed out by the store manager.

Traffic queues formed along Barrack Road as passers-by slowed to view the disturbance.

Nearby resident Kirsty Cross, 41, said she was appalled to hear the news.

“I got home just after it had all happened,” she said. “There was a sea of flashing blue lights and I immediately called the kids to find out what was up.

“There seemed to be some distressed staff coming out. It looked really awful.

“But they seemed to take good care of each other, all huddled round, and they are a really nice bunch.

“I do really feel for them. How awful just going to work and that’s what you have.”

Another unnamed resident who was visiting his mum at The Grove said he’d never heard of such incidents as the area “is normally very peaceful”.

“I was just dropping my car down to the MOT place and wondered round to have a look at what was going on,” he said.

Yesterday was the second raid on a security van at a Tesco store this summer, after a would-be robber attempted to steal a cash box from a Loomis security guard outside a branch in Highcliffe on June 30.

That incident, in Lymington Road on June 30, ended with the offender being chased away by store staff empty-handed.

Witnesses and anyone with information are asked to call Dorset Police urgently on 101 quoting incident number 18:180, or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.