WISBECH: Female manager stops would-be-robber by hitting him with a fire extinguisher

A FEMALE manager at the Little Chef in Wisbech hit a robber in the stomach with a fire extinguisher as he tried to steal from the safe.

Paula Nurse, 29, had arrived at the restaurant at 6.20am today, but when she opened the back door and unset the alarm, a man approached her from behind and told her to open the safe.

She said: "I had to think fast and I saw the fire extinguisher and picked it up the man still had his hand on my shoulder and I hit him as hard as I could with it in his stomach.

"He flew out the door and I then just slammed the door and told him that 'you're not coming in mate'."

Miss Nurse, who lives near Downham, has been a manager at the Little Chef for more than a year and said the incident was over in a matter of minutes.

She said all that was running through her mind at the time was that she was not going to open the safe for him.

She said: "I should not have challenged him, and I would never advise anyone to do it either. But I am a manager and I had to be strong, but I would never want my staff to do something like this."

She said she had not been scared, and just thought she was not going to allow him to take the money.

And even though she was shaken following the incident, she still opened the Little Chef after dealing with the police, and carried on with her day.

Miss Nurse said the man had been wearing a scarf over his face and she had not seen a weapon.

Miss Nurse has been a victim of a robbery before, over a year ago a man had come to the Little Chef in the evening and although he had been chatting to her, he then turned and hit her and grabbed the money from the till.

Police are investigating the incident, details of the robber are sketchy, but the man is believed to be 5.8inches tall.

Miss Nurse added: "It was only my birthday as well on Wednesday!.