Masked robbers armed with a machete forced a supermarket worker to unlock the store's safe in a terrifying early-morning raid.

The 59-year-old man was pounced on by two men wearing stockings to conceal their faces as he opened the Co-op in Istead Rise, Gravesend, on Saturday(August 15).

According to police the robbers, one armed with a machete and the other a knife, made threats but did not hurt anyone.

They escaped with an unspecified amount of cash and scratch cards in a getaway car, believed to have been parked in Lewis Road.

Both robbers are white men, one 5ft 9in, wearing a grey sweatshirt with dark trousers, and the other 5ft 8in, wearing a dark tracksuit top, dark woolly hat and blue jeans.

Anyone with any information is asked to phone Det Sgt Cameron Riley, of North Kent Police, on 01474 366 091 or Crimestoppers. anonymously, on 0800 555 111.