A newsagent staff member who came face-to-face with an armed robber has spoken out about his ordeal.

Vivekananda Baindoor Rao, 56, spoke to the Marlow Free Press after he was confronted by a gun-wielding robber at the One Stop in Marlow Bottom Road at around 5.45pm on February 19.

Mr Rao, who lives near the shop, said he had only been working with the company for less than one month when the robber struck, having started on January 21.

The father-of-two said he was in the back of the store near the warehouse getting ready to open at 6am, when he heard a voice telling him to “get back inside”.

He said: “I turned around because I didn’t recognise the voice. It was a man. He threatened to shoot me if I didn’t move back into the back.

“Then he pushed me back into the warehouse. My other colleague had seen what was going on, on CCTV and she closed the door that led back into the shop so she could call the police.

“I was terrified for my life.

“Suddenly there was the sound of a bread lorry that delivers to the shop outside the warehouse.

“When he heard it he probably got scared and ran away.”

Mr Rao was then asked to accompany police to give a statement and carried on working after he returned to the shop.

He said: “In spite of the trauma, I went back to work at the shop after giving a statement to the police as a victim.

“I went back to work on the same day because I was worried about my job.”

He then claims that there was a dispute with the company and his hours were reduced from 38 per week to 10.

One Stop spokesman Victoria Palmer said she was unable to comment on individual cases and cases where police are investigating.

She said: “The safety and wellbeing of our colleagues are of paramount importance to us and we do all we can to support our colleagues after such an incident.”