A Worthing postmaster grappled with an armed raider as a gun was pointed at his face in an attempted robbery.

Jack Saheid, who owns the post office in Lyndhurst Road, Worthing, pushed the robber away with his hand when he realised the gun was not cocked.

It happened at about 5pm yesterday when the man burst into the post office and demanded cash at gunpoint.

Mr Saheid said: "I have always thought if someone came in with a gun I would hand over all the money we had without arguing.

"But I took a calculated risk. I could see the gun was double-barrelled, about nine or ten inches long. While I was looking at it I realised the hammer wasn't cocked, so I knew he couldn't fire it.

"I held him back with my arm and kept my foot behind the door so the door was blocking his way. I thought if he did shoot the gun, the door would be some protection."

Mr Saheid said the man had asked him to come out from behind the counter to help him find some envelopes. He said: "At this point there was no indication at all that he was a criminal.

"But as I opened the door to go back behind the counter, I could feel something in my back pushing me through the door.

"He said 'Don't mess about, give me everything you've got'. I said, 'What?' and he said, 'All the money'."

But as Mr Saheid struggled with the raider, he was able to pull an alarm cord which frightened him off. The man fled empty-handed towards St George's Road.

Mr Saheid described the raider as white, 5 ft 8in tall with a long face and big nose. He wore brown trousers and a cream jacket.

Detective Sergeant Colin Smith, of Worthing CID, said police were not at this stage linking the raid with a nine others in the town, all thought to have been carried out by the same man.

He said: "The description is different, the time of day is out of line with the Operation Texan series and at the moment, unless something changes, it appears they are not linked."