NEIGHBOURS have spoken of their shock after the Kingshill garage was allegedly robbed at gunpoint.

A masked raider was said by police to have entered the Esso service station shortly after 10pm last night. The man, who is believed to have been armed with an air pistol, made off with cash and cigarettes.

Gerald Large, 69, who lives by the roundabout opposite the garage, said: “It’s certainly worrying. I don’t think there’s been a robbery with a firearm since we’ve lived here. There’s obviously been incidents over there.”

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Another neighbour, a man, who lives on Wootton Bassett Road, said: “It’s slightly worrying, let’s be honest. But I would always take it with a pinch of salt. They say it’s an armed robbery; it [the gun] could be a fake.”

One woman who lives on Kingshill, opposite the garage, said of the robbery report: “It doesn’t make you feel safe.”

Residents around Kingshill reported hearing the police helicopter flying low overhead last night, as officers hunted for the man said to have robbed the store.

One of those who reported the incident to the Adver, a man, said: “It sounded like it was flying quite low and went right over the house a few times, though I didn’t go outside to look.

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“I occasionally hear it flying overhead briefly but I’d not heard it stick around for that long before, so I knew it must have been serious.”

He added: “I was shocked when I learned about the armed robbery at the petrol station, I didn’t think something like that would happen just down the road.

“The staff there are always so friendly, I hope they’re alright, it must have been scary.”

The Kingshill service station has now reopened to the public.