A PIZZA delivery driver may have been lured to a back street by robbers to steal his takings, police said last night.
The 29-year-old man was attacked and robbed early yesterday in Garden House Lane, Cockfield, five miles from his base in Bishop Auckland.
He arrived from Rumblebelly's Pizzeria, in Bondgate, Bishop Auckland, at 2.45am yesterday, an hour after the order was received by telephone.
The driver told detectives that after he turned around in the cul-de-sac, two men came across waste ground to his red F-registration Vauxhall Astra.
They grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back, banging his head on the car roof. They snatched the food and an undisclosed amount of cash from the car and ran off in the direction from which they had come.
Detective Constable Neil Jones appealed for anyone in the area at the time to contact police.
He said: "This was obviously pre-planned. They ordered the food and lured this man to a quiet back street which has only one way in and out. We are convinced they are local to the Cockfield area."
Both men were white and in their late teens or early 20s.
One was about 5ft 7in, of medium build with short hair and a round face.
He wore a dark blue baseball cap, a black bomber jacket, blue jeans and black Kicker-style shoes.
The other was 6ft and of medium build. His dark blue baseball cap had black writing on it, and he wore a black padded jacket and blue jeans.
Anyone with information about the robbery can contact Det Con Jones at Bishop Auckland police station, telephone (01388) 603566
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