A BRAVE shop assistant foiled a thief by slamming shut a till lid on his fingers.

The thug waved a carving knife at terrified assistants in the Spar 8 till Late store in South Road, Chopwell, near Gateshead, and demanded money from the till.

When the staff ignored his demands, the raider tried to grab cash from the open till.

But quick-thinking Sara Rogers, 27, slammed shut the lid on his hand, trapping his fingers.

She had been working alongside Ruth Tiplady, 19, when the knifeman ran in.

Ms Rogers, the senior sales assistant, said: "He was quite calm when he first came in, but then he started to get aggressive and tried to reach into the till.

"I just reacted instinctively and banged the till lid down on top of his hand. I think he got more of a shock than we did when he realised he was not going to get away easily."

The man ran off with a small amount of change.