THESE are pictures of the terrifying moments masked raiders tied up a garden centre worker and forced her boss to open two safes at knife-point.

Two masked men, one armed with an eight-inch knife, the other with a hammer, targeted the Barton Grange Garden Centre in Wigan Road, Hunger Hill, on Monday.

They stole thousands of pounds in cash and garden centre vouchers.

CCTV images, released exclusively to The Bolton News, show the two armed thugs emerge from the cover of trees when the lone woman worker arrived for work at around 8am.

The men can be seen grabbing the terrified worker and taking her out of shot where she was forced to let them into the centre.

Once inside they tied her up with tape and held her captive for 15 minutes, telling her they would kill her if she did not co-operate. When manager Nick Thompson, aged 48, arrived for work he was ambushed and taken into an office at knifepoint.

The CCTV shows one of the raiders brandishing a knife and threatening Mr Thompson, forcing him to open two safes, while the woman worker is made to lie on the floor and is then violently dragged out of the way.

The robbers crouch down and empty the safes while one of the men leaves his hammer lying on the counter. They then go through their victims’ pockets and steal a mobile phone from the woman before fleeing.

Det Con Richard Willoughby, from Bolton CID, said: “This was a terrifying robbery especially for the lady who was tied up, threatened and robbed of her mobile phone.

“These men were organised and prepared to use violence and I would appeal to anybody who knows anything about this incident to get in touch.”

Police believe the men fled in a waiting car, driven by a third offender and are appealing for information about a blue or dark coloured estate car or people carrier which was seen in the car park at the time.

The raiders were white, in their 20s, wearing dark clothing, balaclavas and gloves. One was around 5ft7ins tall, the other was of average build. Both had local accents.

Guy Topping, managing director of Barton Grange, said the company had now totally overhauled its security procedures.

He added: “What’s really disturbing in this instance is the stress and heartache it causes to innocent staff doing there day-to-day job. What these people put them through was totally unreasonable.”

Anyone with any information is asked to call Bolton CID on 0161 856 5740 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

Video footage of the raid is no longer available.