TWO masked robbers made off with three boxes of cash after threatening security guards as they refilled a supermarket cash machine.

The men struck at the cashpoint in the wall outside the recently opened Spar in Padiham Road, Burnley, at 10.10pm yesterday.

The robbers, who were unarmed, threatened Securicor guards before making off with three cassette boxes of money. The guards, aged 38 and 41, were unharmed in the raid. A third, 35-year-old guard was in the van at the time but was unharmed.

A 33-year-old mum-of-two described how she narrowly missed an encounter on the supermarket's car park. Joanne Tattersall, one of three workers in the store at the time of the raid, walked into the car park moments after the robbers had fled.

She had gone get the store's bins just moments later than usual and said if she had stuck to her normal routine, she would have walked into the middle of the attack.

Joanne said: "I was bringing the bins in from outside when I heard a wailing noise coming from the Securicor van. It was the alarm going off. Then one of the drivers ran towards me saying they had been attacked and I should call the police.

"I'm all right, but I'm glad that I didn't get mixed up in it."

Det Sgt Pete Simm said: "I am appealing for anyone who saw two men hanging about in the area before this incident to come forward and anyone who has seen someone watching the premises on other days to contact police. "There will also have been people in the shop which was still open and I am urging them to tell the police if they saw anyone looking suspicious.

"The guards were not physically harmed, but they were seriously verbally threatened by the men who made off in the direction of Middlesex Avenue.

"I am appealing for residents to contact the police if they saw two men getting into a vehicle and leaving the area."

Both offenders were white and one is described as 6ft tall and wearing a sage green Balaclava mask, possibly grey trousers and white trainers. The second man was also masked but there is no description of him. The men did not go into the store.

Contact Burnley CID on 01282 425001.