HOODED raiders used pick axes to batter their way into a supermarket before rifling through tills.

Staff working inside Asda in Whinfield, Darlington, were unaware the raid was taking place as they were dealing with a delivery at the rear of the store.

The incident happened in the early hours of yesterday as workers were preparing to open up for the day.

Acting Inspector Gavin Musgrave, of Darlington police, said officers were called to the scene at 5.16am, adding: “The suspects arrived in a silver coloured car, jemmied open the roller shutters then smashed glass windows. They then emptied the contents of the self-service tills.”

Police forensic teams were yesterday working alongside store security staff as they hunted for clues.

The suspects were wearing dark-coloured clothing and balaclavas.

An Asda employee, who asked not to be named, contacted The Northern Echo about the incident.

He said: “During the early hours of Sunday, possibly between 4am and 5am, Asda supermarket in Darlington was raided by armed robbers who opened security shutters with pickaxes and smashed through the windows and then stole money from the self-scan tills.

“No notes are kept in the tills overnight and it is estimated the thieves got away with about £300 of coins.”

A spokeswoman for Asda said the internal investigation was still ongoing as to what happened.

She added: “They targeted the self-serve checkouts, but most of the cashing up had been done so all of the notes had gone.

“The shop was closed but staff were on site replenishing stocks. Nobody heard anything, they must have been straight in and out before anyone could do anything about it. We are not sure at this stage how much they escaped with.”

“We are working with the police forensic teams to establish who did this.”

Anyone with any information is asked to contact the police on 0345-60-60-365 or Crimstoppers, anonymously, on 0800-555-111.