A teenager narrowly escaped being shot after an armed robber opened fire in a post office.

Jason Crabtree, 18, fled into the kitchen adjoining the post office and shop after spotting the man was carrying a gun.

His dad David, the postmaster, managed to slam the door shut before the robber fired, shattering a window.

He said: "I was sat eating when my son came in shouting in a total panic saying a hooded man was in the shop with a gun in his hand. I slammed the door shut and just afterwards there was a bang and the glass in the door smashed."

Mr Crabtree, 44, said detectives had told him his son had been inches away from being shot in the head.

He said: "The bullet was embedded in our cooker hood. The police said if he hadn't have moved after the bang it would have him because he is so tall."

Jason, a Bexhill College student on half-term holiday, had been looking after the shop while his dad had lunch.

Mr Crabtree had just closed the post office for an hour after receiving a cash delivery, which he locked in the safe.

The robber walked in soon afterwards, went up to the post office counter window and knocked on the glass with the gun. Jason ran into the kitchen of his family home after spotting the weapon.

The offender fled empty-handed into the road after the window shattered. No other customers were in the post office in Northiam Road, Broad Oak, near Hastings, at 12.30pm yesterday.

Jason was taken to the Conquest Hospital in Hastings suffering from shock and cuts to his head from flying glass.

Mr Crabtree said: "Jason is out of hospital but this has really knocked him. I wonder why people would put others through an ordeal like this."

The offender was about 6ft tall with a moustache. He was wearing a dark bomber jacket. Anyone with any information should phone Hastings CID on 0845 6070999.