Ram raiders trying to steal a village store's cash machine were foiled when their noisy antics disturbed a neighbour's card game.

The bungling thieves reversed a Citroen Picasso in to the front of Sussex Village Stores in Newick, near Lewes, at about 2am on Thursday.

The car was used to rip a cash machine from the floor and drag it across the shop. But the thieves left the main part of the machine containing the money inside after they were interrupted by next-door neighbour Ian Whittle.

The vehicle was found abandoned, with the top part of the cash machine still attached to the rear, almost a mile away along the A272 towards Haywards Heath.

Mr Whittle, 45, a house maintenance engineer, said: "I'd heard a bang outside my door. My friend went outside to investigate, came running back in and said that the store was being ram raided.

"I stood at my front door and was looking at a man who had a balaclava on and was holding something black that could have been a gun.

"He said that the best thing we could do was to go back inside and leave them alone. I shut my front door and they threw a big boulder through it to warn us to stay inside. I told my friends to get in the kitchen and phoned the police.

"We then heard the car wheels spinning away, dragging the ATM away. It's quite amusing that they did all that work and forgot to take the cash because we disturbed them halfway through their operation. People across the green saw sparks flying as they dragged the machine up the road."

Eve Truman, who owns the Village Stores, in The Green, with her daughter Emily, said the shop was an absolute mess.

She said: "It was a good job the man next door heard something and came out. This whole thing has been a terrible ordeal and the people who have done this should be punished. It has caused total chaos in a little village shop which is just trying to keep going and compete against the big boys."

Emily Truman, 26, said: "We are shocked. We've been robbed in the past but never ram raided. There is an awful lot of damage and the glass front is completely smashed."

Police believe there were at least two suspects and possibly two vehicles involved in the raid. A red car was seen leaving the store at the same time as the Citroen Picasso. Both were heading towards Haywards Heath.

The Citroen had been stolen from Burgess Hill on July 22. The police are appealing for information about the stolen car's whereabouts between that time and the raid.

Detective Inspector Martin Sapwell, of Newhaven CID, said: "This is the first ram raid we've had in this area."

Anyone with any information should call Newhaven CID on 0845 6070999 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.