Tesco worker tells armed robber she's TOO BUSY to deal with him

 

By JAYA NARAIN - More by this author » Last updated at 14:27pm on 23rd October 2007 Comments

When faced with a gun-toting robber and ordered to fill a bag with money, petrol station cashier Linda Faulkner was not about to be bullied.

Instead of surrendering the £15 cash from her till, she turned to the raider and told him she was too busy to deal with him.

The plucky mother of one, 51, said: "I just got on with it - British people don't stop work just because someone is trying to bully us with guns."

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Linda Faulkner said it was her British duty to not allow men with guns bully her

 

Today David Collinson, 42, was beginning a seven year jail sentence after he was convicted of robbery at Gloucester Crown Court.

Judge Martin Picton paid tribute to her bravery with a £200 Sheriff's award and told her she had shown "remarkable courage" in standing up to the armed raider.

The court heard Collinson walked into the Tesco petrol station in Cheltenham at around 8pm on February 12 and put a chocolate bar on the counter in front of cashier Hayley Holder.

But instead of pulling out his wallet to pay for the chocolate he produced a red drawstring bag and told her he had a gun and ordered her to fill it with money.

Brendon Moorhouse, prosecuting, said: "He then placed down what appeared to be a gun. Miss Holder started to do what he told her and put the notes from the till into the bag.

"Then when he pointed the gun at her, she started to put one and two pound coins into the bag.

"He said: 'The other till as well,' pointing to Linda Faulkner's till."

 

Robber: David Collinson was jailed for seven years

 

But when Miss Holder went over to her work colleague, Miss Faulkner flatly refused to put her till money in the red bag.

Miss Faulker said: "Hayley came over to me with this red bag and said, 'You've got to put money into it.'

"I said: 'Whatever for?' She said: 'Because there's a man with a gun.'

"I said: 'I'm sorry, he'll have to wait, because I'm busy.'

At the same time I thought I'd better press the panic button.

"I just carried on serving and ignored the man. I was just absolutely numb.

"The man was wearing a a blue baseball cap and he had big Rosemary West style glasses on.

"He was just stood there waiting. Then I felt someone behind me, touching me. He grabbed the red bag that was still there.

"I said: 'You can't take it. You can't have it.' He said: 'Oh yes, I can.'

"I let him have the bag, because I wasn't sure if the gun he had was real or not."

Miss Faulkner, who worked at the store for four years, said: "It was very stressful looking back and I've since left the job. I was going to thump him, but I thought twice, because it may well have been a real gun.

"Anyone that knows me, knows that I would."

Collinson, who it later turned out was carrying an airgun, escaped from the petrol station on foot with £489.80 in cash in his red bag but he was followed by shopper Kevin Downes who was able to identify the route he took and saw him disappear through a hole in a fence.

It later emerged Collinson had a string of previous convictions beginning with a robbery plot in 1983. He also had convictions for burglary, theft and handling stolen goods.

After the trial Detective Constable Phil Howes said: "Mr Collinson was known to us, having previous convictions.

"We found two latex gloves on the waste land and managed to make a DNA match that was close enough not to rule him out of the inquiry." The judge made identical awards of £200 to Miss Holder, and shoppers Kevin Downes - who followed Collinson out of the shop and down the road - and Lisa Horsfall, who calmly noted his identifying features.

Judge Picton said: "All four of them showed quite remarkable bravery in the circumstances in which they found themselves.

"The effect this had on them was clear in the emotion they showed once they stepped down from the witness box."

Sorry, but what that woman did was stupid.

 

You have insurance to replace the stolen money, you don't have insurance to replace the stolen life.