P.O. teller foils armed robber

Press, 6 April 1989, Page 1

P.O. teller foils armed robber

A teller tricked an armed robber into thinking he had escaped with an extra several thousand dollars from the Bower Avenue Post Office during a hold-up yesterday afternoon.

The woman, in her late 30s, dropped a heavy stamp book into the bag of the robber, who was carrying a sawn-off shotgun.

The lone robber left the branch in Travis Road, North New Brighton, with $l4OO in cash and the book of $5OO in postage stamps. Thousands of dollars more was left behind. The teller and three middleaged female customers were badly shaken but unhurt, Detective Sergeant Peter Gardiner, of the New Brighton C. 1.8., said last evening. The man, wearing a balaclava, but believed to be a European in his early 20s, entered the branch about 1.50 p.m.

He threatened the teller with the shotgun, threw a bag to her and said “fill it.” He left on foot with the haul less than a minute later, jumping over a

back fence and into the outer fields of Queen Elizabeth II Park.

Police dogs lost his scent after tracking it to where he had dropped a knee-length coat.

The manager of the branch, Mrs Pam Upston, and the district manager of New Zealand Post, Mr Pat Nicholas, last evening refused to comment on the hold-up. The branch will reopen this morning but Mrs Upston and the two staff members will take the day off to recover from the ordeal. The branch will close next month in line with New Zealand Post’s rationalisation programme. However, Mr Nicholas said it was unlikely it would close sooner because of the robbery. Last July, the Wainoni branch was closed after it was robbed at knife-point. A group of residents will meet today to discuss the impending closing of the Bower Avenue branch. Picture, page 8