This is the moment two shop workers were injured when crooks mounted the pavement in a car and stole a haul of cigarettes.
A masked man dressed in black jumped out of the front passenger seat of a Ford Fiesta and attacked a worker as he tried to move a trolley of cigarettes from a van into the Go Local Extra store on the corner of Linacre Lane in Bootle.
CCTV footage shows one of the workers nearly being pulled into the front seat of the car as he bravely tried to protect the haul of cigarettes from the crook.
When the man dressed in black managed to grab some cigarettes the car quickly reversed. The front passenger door caught the workers by the arm as the car lurched back.
The crooks fled with around £1,500 worth of cigarettes after the tea-time raid on Tuesday evening.
Shop manager Sivi Kanagasingam, who was caught up in the drama, spoke to the ECHO about his ordeal.
He said: "We had just come back from the cash and carry in Liverpool city centre and were bringing the cigarettes into the shop when this car pulled up.
"Two of us were injured, although not too badly. We were treated in hospital but are okay now. I suppose it could have been worse.
"I tried to film the car on my phone but I was too shaken up to get the camera working properly. But at least we caught them on CCTV.
"We are a bit suspicious about the timing and think the Fiesta might have followed our van back to the shop in Bootle."
The owner of the store released CCTV footage of the incident to the ECHO to try and identify the criminals responsible.
Police confirmed they were investigating a robbery which happened at around 5.55pm on Tuesday evening.
Police said the two men in the Ford Fiesta were white, aged between 20-25 and wore black hooded tops with their faces covered.
Detective Inspector Tony O’Brien said to the ECHO: “Linacre Lane is a busy road and I believe there would have been a lot of pedestrians and motorists in the area at the time this took place.
“I would ask anyone who saw the blue car, saw anyone or anything suspicious or thinks they may have captured something on their dash-cam to contact us as they may have information which is vital to our investigation.”
Anyone with information is asked to DM @MerPolCC, call 101 or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 quoting log 846 of 18th June
