A disabled member of staff at the Post Office was threatened with a hammer in a suspected robbery involving scratch cards and cigarettes.

The woman, who is profoundly deaf, was working alone in the shop just before 8.30am on January 21 when the masked suspect burst into the Hextable branch in Home Hill Road, near Swanley, and demanded she hand over various items.

“She shoved me with a club hammer,” the worker said. “It all happened in the space of 10 minutes.

“Luckily she was disturbed by a customer who managed to chase her away and called the police.

“I was shocked and panicked as she rushed me to open the till.”

Officers arrived quickly and found the woman.

A Kent Police spokesman said: “Officers attended and arrested a woman in her 30s, from Swanley, on suspicion of robbery, common assault, and criminal damage.

“She has since been released on bail until April 19, pending further inquiries.”

.