Police were last night hunting for a robber who threatened staff a Bradford post office at gunpoint yesterday.

The raider wearing a hooded top and armed with a handgun demanded money before fleeing empty-handed from Southfield Lane, Little Horton, when the panic alarm was activated.

He escaped along South Street leading police to comb nearby waste ground minutes later for clues.

Traders in the area said they believed the post office had also been attacked by burglars three times in a matter of months.

Mark Dalby, who runs Dalby Tattoos only yards away, described the couple, who have run the shop for more than 20 years, as “lovely”.

“The couple who run it are absolutely lovely,” he said. “I don’t know how anybody could do this. You can’t get a better couple than them.

“I think they have CCTV inside the shop and it makes me sick that someone has done this.

“I just cannot believe it that they have been robbed. I think within the last eight months they have been burgled about three times.”

One man, who works at the Chatterbox Mobile Phone shop opposite the post office, said that he heard the alarm and did not know whether it was a panic alarm going off or his own car alarm.

“I looked up and I saw a guy with a black hoodie heading into the Canterbury estate,” he said.

“I thought it was my car alarm but it wasn’t. When I looked again there was a police car outside.

“The post office has been robbed about three times this year.”

A newsagent, who did not want to be named, said that his shop had been broken into a couple of weeks ago when money and cigarettes were taken.

“It’s happening everywhere and this latest incident doesn’t surprise me at all,” he added.

Detectives are investigating the robbery.

Witnesses or anyone with information about the suspect have been urged to contact officers on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.