DOZENS of people going about their business in the early hours of the morning may have unwittingly walked past a robber as he pulled a trolley carrying more than £30,000 through a city's streets.

Police investigating Monday's robbery at the DH-1 nightclub in Durham City say the robber coolly dragged the trolley containing the stolen money through the streets, possibly in view of a large number of witnesses.

The incident happened in the early hours of Monday at the nightclub, in North Road.

The manager, a man in his mid-20s, left the club at 1am for the 30-minute drive back to his home in Hopper Terrace, Trimdon Grange, where he lived alone.

As he entered the bungalow, he was approached from behind by a man who pushed a blunt instrument into his back, which the victim believed was a gun, and threatened him.

He was then tied up as the assailant stole the keys to the club and to his black 3-series BMW, parked outside.

It was eight hours later, at about 9.30am, that the victim managed to raise the alarm and was freed by a neighbour.

Police went to the nightclub, where they found that money, thought to be at least £30,000, was missing from the safe.

Detectives sifting through security camera footage from North Road discovered that part of the incident had been caught on camera.

Detective Inspector Eric Malkin, of Durham Police, said images showed a black BMW pulling into North Road shortly before 5am, more than three hours after the bungalow hold-up.

A figure wearing a baseball cap and dark clothing was seen heading into the nightclub complex pulling a trolley.

The car then left North Road via Neville Street.

About 40 minutes later, he reappeared dragging the trolley through the streets, which even at that time of the morning were relatively busy, and left the area towards Neville Street.

The car, registration W886 MMR, has not been recovered.

At the time, the suspect left the building, footage shows a bus leaving North Road bus station, a man walking past with a bicycle, a taxi parked in a nearby rank and council workers in the area.

Det Insp Malkin said: "We believe that the assailant at the bungalow in Hopper Terrace, in Trimdon, may have been lying in wait for some little time before the manager returned home.

"We would also like to talk to anyone living in that area who might have heard of seen anything suspicious or who noticed any vehicle that might have aroused suspicion."

Anyone with information has been asked to call police on 0845 60 60 365.