ROBBERS armed with machetes escaped with close to £100,000 in a raid at an Aldi supermarket, it has emerged.

The Bolton News told how the masked men slashed a male shopper on the leg as he tried to stop one of the men escaping from the store in Trinity Street on Monday afternoon.

The man's girlfriend, aged 24 and from Great Lever, who is too scared to be named, has spoken of her terror as her boyfriend, aged 32 and from Wigan, recovers from the ordeal.

She said: "We had just got out of the car when two of the robbers emerged from the store and started running towards us.

"One of them tried to run past my partner and he tripped him up.

"He was on top of him and the other guy was still trying to get into their car.

"I was in the middle and then the two other guys came out with the machetes.

"My partner got slashed as he tried to stop the first robber.

"When he had him down to the floor in a choke hold, another robber with a machete hit him across the shin while myself and a group of about three others were screamed at by the third robber with a machete just feet away.

"Other bystanders then watched as this terror unfolded."

“There were two or three of us and these guys just started shouting at us, in Bolton accents, and were waving their machetes.

"They came within about four feet. I did not know where my partner was, I was just praying he was alright.

"There was a big black rucksack on the floor and my partner tried to grab it but said it was so heavy he could not pull it.

“Then their car reversed towards him. The next thing I knew they had got the bag and driven off but no one seemed to have seen that. I was probably looking at my partner."

CCTV at the store will be analysed over the coming days, as police try to piece together the gang's movements.

Police are unable to confirm whether the robbers had monitored the store to assess when cash deliveries or collections are made.

The woman added: "I feel a bit nervous going out because of all the shouting. They looked right at me at one point.

“I am probably going to move to Wigan now. It is just terrifying the way they shout at you.”

A black VW Golf was used as the getaway car and was initially reported to have been found abandoned nearby, but it does not now appear that this was the case.

A police spokesman said: "Police have made no arrests. The money and the robbers are still out there.

"They forced their way into the store, and targeted a cash in transit van.

"They got away with a large amount of money and the man who was hit with a machete required stitches.

"We want anyone who saw a number of men in balaclavas in a VW Golf to get in touch with us as we are trying to trace their movements."

Another eyewitness, Ralmetra Gayle, aged 82, had travelled to Aldi from her home in Breightmet, and was knocked over by the robbers as they raided the store.

She said: "I was walking down the first aisle to get some jam and these two lads came rushing in and knocked me over.

"I shouted at them, and did not know they had a machete. Very soon, the alarm went off and everybody was running out.

"Then they came out, the same two lads that had knocked into me. I'm amazed they did it so fast. It was just terrible, really terrible. People were crying. It was just so awful."

Mrs Gayle was taken to hospital but escaped with only sore legs and arms.

A second woman was treated by paramedics at the scene for shock.

The robbers escaped from the store along Edgar Street, but a decorator, working close to Aldi, bravely tried to foil them by smashing both side windows of the car. The man, working near to the store at the time, who asked not to be named, said: "I was in my car and saw all these women running out of the shop.

Police cordoned off the area as crime scene investigators scoured the store, which was closed, and its car park for evidence.

Aldi failed to respond to requests for a comment.