A police helicopter and tracker dogs were used in a hunt for a masked raider who held up a petrol station at knifepoint.

The robber, wearing a balaclava and wielding a large hunting knife, crept up behind a 20-year-old male cashier as he was sweeping the floor at the Texaco site in Little Bowden, Leicestershire.

The attendant – who did not want to be named – said: “He marched me behind the counter and told me to hand over the money from the till. I emptied the cash into a carrier bag, and he ran off. It was very frightening.”

The raider escaped and police are still appealing for witnesses.