Britain’s bravest postman foiled his 14th robbery by laughing in the armed robbers’ faces and telling them to ‘piss off’.
Paul Bennett, 59, was working alone at a Post Office when a pair of would-be robbers threatened him with a shotgun.
But they were more than a little surprised when the dad-of-two gave them their marching orders and they eventually gave up and left.
Paul started working in his parents’ Post Office when he was 15 and says ‘nothing phases’ him now.
He said: ‘Two guys walked into the Post Office, one stayed by the door, the other one came straight up to the counter. ‘He had a holdall with a shotgun poking out at the front.
‘He said, “give me the money” – the police said he must have been to robber school. ‘I actually said piss off.
He said, “no mate, I’m serious, open the safe”. ‘I said, “it’s not going to happen” and walked away from him to the corner where I’ve got a brick wall between me and them.
Paul has foiled 14 robberies over the years as a postie
‘It was just a case of, “no, it’s highly unlikely you are going to shoot me otherwise you would have done something”.
‘He looked at the other guy and shook his head and they left. I think he was just surprised I said no. ‘It was all over in a minute.
I think I was more annoyed than anything else and I do tend to keep quite calm.’
Police have now appealed for witnesses to the attempted robbery at the Stone Quarry Sub Post Office in East Grinstead, West Sussex, last Friday.
Paul added: ‘I actually built this one 30 years ago.
I’ve worked for the Post Office and banks for 40 years.
Paul Bennett, 59, said there’s been an increase in robberies recently. ‘There were many robberies in the 80s and 90s – it has definitely flowed up recently.’
He said it was ‘unfortunate’, but added: ‘I’m not going to have nightmares about it. ‘If I had been an 18-year-old girl working in one of the open plan offices we probably would not be having this kind of conversation now.’
Paul said ‘the scariest’ attempted robbery was when someone actually fired the shotgun at a post office in south London back in the 1980s – but he still didn’t give up any money.
His last attempted robbery was at his Post Office in June this year. Paul Bennett, 59, was ‘knicked’ on the finger by an armed robber last year He said: ‘That was a youngster with a crash helmet and he tried to get through the parcel hatch with a knife but I hit him back and he went.
‘I got a tiny nick on the finger but it was just a nick.’ A police spokesman said: ‘A postal worker bravely foiled an attempted robbery in East Grinstead.
‘The suspect who demanded the cash was about 5ft 6ins, aged 35-40 and spoke with a local accent. He wore a white boiler suit and appeared to have a shotgun in a black holdall. ‘Both men wore masks and gloves.’
