A MASKED robber held up a terrified cashier at gunpoint before escaping with cash from a filling station at West End.

The armed raider - who brandished a revolver-type gun - burst into the Texaco Star service station in Townhill Park Way early yesterday.

Wearing a handkerchief mask, with just the slits of his eyes showing, and a baseball cap, he suddenly jumped on to the counter and threatened the female cashier before stealing £140 in cash.

Pointing the gun at the cashier, the raider demanded bank notes and also grabbed coins from the till before running off.

The man, who was alone in the service station, then fled with another white male in a white Austin Maestro car. Detective Sergeant Phil Jones said: "No one was injured but the cashier was extremely distressed."

He said it must have been absolutely terrifying for her to be confronted with the masked man armed with a gun. The drama happened at about 2am and police who attended the scene later recovered a stolen Maestro car nearby in the early hours of the morning.

Today the hunt was still going on for the masked raider who is described as in his late teens or early 20s, 5ft 7in tall and of slim build.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Hedge End police station on 0845 045 4545.