Bungling thieves hijacked a driving school car during a driving test as they made their getaway from a post office raid.
An 18-year-old student and his examiner were dragged from the car by the fleeing raiders during the test.
The learner car taken by the raiders Picture: STEVE BRADING
The thieves struck as a security company delivered a cash box to Southcliff Post Office, Holland Road, Clacton, at 11.55am yesterday.
One thief, wearing a crash helmet, snatched the box from a guard while she was still in the newsagents.
They tried to make their getaway on a Kawasaki Scorpion motorbike but their path was blocked and the pair ran off down Skelmersdale Road.
The raiders then forced the teenager, who was on his driving test, and his examiner to get out of their Ford Fiesta car in nearby Victoria Road.
They made their escape before dumping the car at Claire Road industrial estate in Kirby.
The cash box was recovered seemingly in tact in a garden in Bedford Road, Holland-on-Sea.
Steve Moseley, owner of the post office, said: "I served someone at the counter wearing a crash helmet and then he grabbed hold of the guard when she had the money. It all happened so fast."
Mr Moseley, 49, tried to tackle the thief for the box at the shop door but the man swung the box round cracking the shop-front window.
The thief then jumped on the back of a red Kawasaki Scorpion bike, where his accomplice was waiting but were forced off when their path was blocked.
Mr Moseley and other passers-by gave chase but lost sight of the raiders in Lancaster Gardens.
Published Tuesday, January 28, 2003
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