MASKED men have carried out an armed robbery at a bookmakers.

Police are appealing for witnesses after the raid at the branch of Coral Bookmakers in Normanby Road, in South Bank yesterday evening.

At around 5.45pm on Sunday three men went into the shop, two of whom were armed with weapons which police say were not firearms.

The escaped with a small amount of cash before running away from the scene.

A spokesman for Cleveland Police said: "The armed men approached the counter and one of the men jumped the counter and removed a small amount of cash from the tills.

"No-one was injured during the incident".

The first suspect was wearing a grey woolen hat pulled over his face, a khaki coloured jacket with an elastic waist, dark jogging bottoms and white trainers.

The second was wearing a black balaclava pulled over his face, blue fleece and khaki coloured cargo-style trousers.

The third suspect was wearing a face mask, grey hat and dark coloured jacket.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Cleveland Police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.