A terrified woman has told how a masked gunman ran in front of her car seconds after a raid on the Coppull branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland on Tuesday evening.

Police said the robbers got away with "a substantial amount" of money in the raid which happened as the bank was closing for the day.

After the incident an ambulance attended and paramedics entered the bank. A woman was treated for a slight injury, but declined hospital treatment.

A Royal Bank of Scotland spokesperson confirmed that no member of staff had been injured. It is not known if any members of the public were inside the bank at the time of the raid.

Police patrol vehicles dashed to the Spendmore Lane bank after receiving an emergency call at 4.49pm.

In an incident, thought to be directly related to the raid, a Rover car was set on fire. Firefighters attended and dealt with the blaze.

The witness, who was returning home after collecting her young daughter from school, said: "I was turning into South Road when a man ran out of the bank carrying two bags right in front of me.

"If I hadn't stopped I would have hit him. I was about to shout, 'You idiot', at him when my daughter said, 'Mum, he's got a gun.'"

The woman, in her forties from the South Road area who asked not to be named, added: "He was dressed all in black with a balaclava.

"You could only see his eyes. He got into the back of a blue Rover car parked on the corner of South Road. There was already a man in the driver's seat.

"I got the registration of the car which I gave to police as they were just arriving."

Minutes after the robbery, a blue Rover 216 Si saloon was seen ablaze in an alleyway between Kimberley Street and Regent Street, at the back of the Yu Hing Chinese takeaway.

A 15-year-old boy witnessed flames licking onto nearby sheds and garages on Regent Street. He said he had heard that the robbers had escaped in a Mini after setting the Rover on fire.

Meanwhile, another teenager Samantha Abram, 15, of Regent Street, was asleep on her settee as flames threatened to engulf the garage to the rear of her house.

She said: "My friend saw the car on fire and came round to see if I was all right. I was asleep at the time and he was banging on the window trying to wake me. It took him a few minutes and I only woke up because he called my home phone.

"I'm glad he did because there are gas bottles in the garage."

Mr Paul Hunter, of Regent Street, said: "I was looking through an upstair's window just before five and I saw a car alight on the backs. I called the fire brigade who came immediately. The car was on fire for around 25 minutes."

Both locations were being treated as forensic scenes of crime on Tuesday evening.

Cordons were placed around the bank and at 6pm forensic officers were dusting down the exterior of the building in their search of evidence.

Door to door inquiries were carried out throughout the evening in the streets close to the bank, which earlier this year celebrated its 100th anniversary.

A Lancashire Police spokesman said: "We believe a substantial amount of cash has been stolen."

A spokesperson for the Royal Bank of Scotland said:"I can confrim an incident did take place this afternoon (Tuesday) as the branch was closing. I can confirm the staff are safe, there are no casualties."