Second robbery at P.O.

Press, 3 December 1982, Page 1

Second robbery at P.O.

The tiny North New Brighton Post Office was held up yesterday for the second time this year. Two men, armed with a machete and a sawn-off shotgun, threatened tellers at the post office at 9 Bowhill Road at 3.45 p.m. and fled with about $7OO. One of the men had “terrified" a woman teller by waving the machete about, the police said.

Only minutes after the robbery, a police patrol found the robbers’ getaway car parked sideways across two parking spaces in the car-park of the Bower Tavern in Bower Avenue, a few kilometres from the post office. The car, a dark winecoloured 1965 Vauxhall Viva, in very rough condition, registration number CSBI7O, had been stolen after 8 a.m.

yesterday from Maces Road, Bromley. The Christchurch C. 1.8. is anxious to hear from anyone who might have seen the Vauxhall Viva in the Bromley or New Brighton areas yesterday. An extensive search of the area where the getaway car was found yielded no trace of the robbers. Certain items had been taken from the car for scientific analysis, said a

police spokesman. Both of the robbers wore masks and tight-fitting jeans. One was about 183 cm (6ft) ■ tall, and the other was about 178 cm (sft lOin) tall, of heavy ; build with a fat stomach. On February 22 this year, ■ two youths armed with a • knife'and a slug pistol held up the same post office and ; escaped with about $4OOO. Both were later arrested i and convicted.