NEWS 1
YOU NEED TO KNOW
at a glance
l Four men wearing balaclavas arrived at Hays Travel’s Westhoughton branch shortly after 5pm on Thursday, January 18, when the agency was closed for the day.
l The men forced entry by throwing a manhole cover through the glass panel.
The door of Hays Travel in Westhoughton
remained boarded up this week after being smashed by robbers
Robbers use axe, hammer and machete in Hays raid
Ben Ireland
ben.ireland@
travelweekly.co.uk
Hays Travel agents at a branch near Bolton have been left too terrified to return to work after a gang of robbers wielding an axe, hammer and machete raided their shop.
The shop in Westhoughton
was stormed on Thursday for the second time in six months by four men in balaclavas. The perpetrators used a manhole cover to smash the glass door to break into the shop and threaten staff before stealing a “significant” amount of cash from the foreign exchange safe. Don Bircham, managing director
of Hays North West, said: “You can imagine the panic. After I watched
the CCTV I couldn’t sleep. It’s horrifying, very aggressive. The staff weren’t physically harmed, but they are emotionally devastated.”
Counselling has been offered
to the five agents. Bircham said they were “understandably” uncomfortable about returning to work at the store, which recently underwent a £60,000 refurb. Staff from nearby Hays shops
have been drafted in as cover for the agency. It reopened on Saturday, two days after the raid which happened shortly after 5pm last Thursday. Six months earlier, the same
branch was robbed by two men in balaclavas wielding baseball bats. Of the latest attack, Bircham said: “It was the same staff, and it took them a while to recover
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travelweekly.co.uk 25 January 2018
“You can imagine the panic. After I watched the CCTV I couldn’t sleep. It’s horrifying”
last time. We’d put in CCTV and an electronic lock on the door, but they just ripped up a manhole cover and smashed through the door. “We are looking into
more-robust security measures but, understandably, our staff are not ready to go near the place yet.” Bircham said the staff may be
switched to other branches to help them return to work. “Although they are really
suffering at the moment, they have a steely determination to go back to work,” he said.
l Staff were threatened by the men, who were wielding an axe, hammer and machete, and demanding money.
l A ‘substantial’ amount of cash was handed over. The men fled the scene, leaving the agents shocked and shaken.
l The branch was closed on Friday and staff from other branches were drafted in as cover to reopen the shop on Saturday.
Greater Manchester Police has
“escalated” the latest incident in Westhoughton to a top priority. A police spokeswoman said enquiries were ongoing and no one had been arrested. “Police were called to reports of an armed robbery at a travel agents on Market Street in Westhoughton, Bolton,” she said. “Four men forced an entry to
the premises armed with an axe, a hammer and a machete.” Bircham added: “They never
seem to get caught. “If it’s an organised gang, which
it’s likely to be, [the police] really need to catch them. I hope that now the police have escalated it,
we see a breakthrough.” › Anyone with any information should call the police on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111
PICTURE: BOLTON NEWS
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