Third armed raid prompts calls for tougher security at Sheffield shop

The McColl's store on Barnsley Road in Sheffield Lane Top has been targeted by armed robbers three times in as many months, with the latest taking place on Tuesday this week.

Now customers and fellow business owners say McColl's need to do something to protect the staff who work there

One local man, who did not want to be named, said: "The person who is running this should be doing something about it and paying out for some security.

"If it is the third time in two months they want a guard on here all the time - this area is getting terrible.

"They want it sorting out or somebody behind the counter will get hurt."

In Tuesday's incident, three masked men armed with knives, including a machete, threatened staff before escaping with cash and tobacco.

On Tuesday, March 13 two men armed with a knife escaped with cash and cigarettes after another robbery at the shop.

And two men, also armed with knives, stole cash during a raid on Sunday, February 25.

Others in the area said the Betfred shop on the other side of the busy junction was also targeted just last month.

A staff member told the Star that armed men dragged two shop assistants in the back of the store before threatening them with a knife.

Other stores in the area were aware of the problem but had not experienced it themselves.

The manager of the vaping shop next door but one to McColl's, Liam Wilcock, said he thought the shop needed full time security guards like Iceland over the road.

"Every time I go in there someone has robbed something - it is terrible.

"The man who was working there last night when they came in has just had a triple heart bypass.

"They all came in with balaclavas - god know what it did to him."

A McColl’s spokesperson said: “The health, safety and well-being of our customers and employees is of utmost importance.

"We are working closely with the relevant authorities in response to these incidents and have also made improvements to the security of the store which we constantly review as a matter of course after every incident.”