16 December 2008, 15:21 PM
  • Two armed men, their faces covered with black beanie hats and scarves, threatened staff and customers before leaving in a white van with the contents of the tills.

“This is all quite unbelievable,” comments Anthony Shinner, partner at Priory Farm. “The men used the sort of language you’d hear during bank robberies. There were three cashiers in at the time. One of them received a fractured arm and is now off sick. Thankfully the others managed to get out of the way when the men tried to take the tills.

“This is a very big story locally and a lot of people are concerned that such things can happen in a little village like ours. Obviously, we are more vulnerable than high street shops where there are cameras everywhere. We will now improve our security measures to ensure our staff’s safety.”

The robbery is hard news for the farm shop. Damage to the tills has been estimated at around £10,000 and the robbers left with about £2,000. The police is keen to hear from anyone with information on the event. Investigating officer, detective constable, Kerry Akehurst, says, “This was a truly distressing and terrifying ordeal for the staff and customers to endure. The level of violence displayed by these two robbers is incredibly worrying.”

Tandridge neighbourhood inspector, Elaine Burtenshaw, adds, “Officers from my Safer Neighbourhood Team visited the victims and have been providing a high visibility presence in the Nutfield area. This type of crime is exceptionally rare for Nutfield; it is rare for Surrey as a whole.”

Anyone who can help is urged to call Surrey Police on 0845 125 2222 quoting reference TD/08/4725 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.