Penkridge service station held up by armed robbers
Robbers have taken a "substantial amount" of cash and cigarettes in an armed raid on a service station in Staffordshire.
Three men wearing balaclavas confronted staff at the Texaco service station on the A449 in the market town of Penkridge at about 05:30 BST on Sunday.
The robbers threatened them with knives and forced them into a storeroom, Staffordshire Police said.
The workers were shaken but unharmed, a force spokesman said.
Insp Geoff Knight said: "Penkridge has always been a very safe area to live and work and I am sure the local residents will be appalled by this incident.
"We had a spate of this type of crime at the end of last summer across south Staffordshire and we carried out a very successful policing operation, together with colleagues from the West Midlands, which put an end to it.
"We will again be increasing our patrol activity."