RAIDERS used a car to smash the front doors of a Subway before attempting to steal from the store.

The offenders ram raided the fast food outlet in Chorley New Road, Horwich, at just before 6am today.

It is thought there were three offenders in the vehicle, which was reversed into the front door before someone jumped out and attempted to steal money from the counter.

But, as cash is not kept at the premises when it is closed, they did not manage to take anything and they quickly drove away.

The incident has bent and twisted the doors and glass was strewn across the car park and the store, which is likely to stay closed throughout the day.

Suhail Amjed, who works at the store, said nothing was taken and no-one was hurt as staff members had not started work at the time.

He said: "This is the first time this has happened here. We have been robbed previously but not to this extent.

"They were parked across the road at the junction and they reversed into the window. I do not know how they do it because of the kerb outside the front of the store.

"They reversed into here and one of them climbed out and ran into the store. He climbed over the till. Luckily, as part of procedure, we do not keep cash here out of opening hours. So he then just ran back out."

Mr Amjed said he doubted the store would be open until tomorrow.

He said: "As a taxpayer and as an employer, it is horrendous because we have got responsibility for 10 people who need their wages.

"When we are not open, the business is not making money and, at a time when the economy is struggling, an incident like this does not help things.

"We can not let people come in when it is not safe. There was glass all over the store and the car park because of how hard they hit the door.

"If we do open it would not be until later in the day but we have missed the lunch time rush. We have already had disappointed customers come up to us. For some of the children, it is their last day at school and they normally come in for their breakfasts.

"There was a lot of disappointed children in here because this is the kind of place they do like to come to in the morning and we will have a lot of disappointed regulars at lunch time as well."

A spokesman from Greater Manchester Police confirmed that officers were called to the scene at just before 6am and investigations were being carried out.

Officers are digging through CCTV footage from the store in an attempt to identify the offenders.

Anyone who has any information or who witnessed the raid should call police on 101 quoting incident number 310 of Wednesday, July 18.

Alternatively, people can contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.