A ROBBER tied up a woman assistant manager at a Rossendale betting shop and who forced her to open the office safe.

The 25-year-old woman was opening the Ladbrokes office in Bank Street, Rawtenstall, at 11am yesterday when she was approached by the attacker.

"He forced her into the office and demanded money," said Detective Inspector Ron Griffiths, of Rawtenstall CID.

"He then forced her to open the safe and took an amount of money. The man was not armed and she was not hurt but she was left distressed by the incident."

The woman was left in the office with her hands and feet taped up.

She was discovered almost half an hour later by another member of staff who found she could not get into the shop.

The manager was called and used his keys to get inside, where they found the woman bound up.

The woman, who has not been named, was interviewed by detectives yesterday to help piece together more details about the incident.

Police said the amount taken could run into several thousands of pounds.

Officers were due to speak to the manager today to establish exactly how much has been taken.

The man was white, in his late 30s, 5ft 10-11ins tall, stocky, with dark brown, short, straight hair. He spoke with a northern accent and had a gap between his top front middle teeth.

He was wearing aviator-style sunglasses with gold coloured frames, a navy blue bomber jacket with a motif on the breast, dark pants or jeans and dark lace-up shoes.

Anyone with any information about the incident can contact the police on 01282 425001.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.