But the raider was foiled by the locked cash boxes and fled empty handed, according to Londis owner Atul Sodha.
"I've given the police the CCTV footage of the incident," he said.
"I don't think it was an opportune attack. The assailant was following the cash van to the store in his car.

"There was a gun involved. He was wearing a black ski mask and came in to the store shouting his head off, scaring everyone. He was pointing the gun at the floor.

"He tried to grab the cash as it was being loaded into the machine, but he didn't realise the boxes are locked with codes and all sorts of security procedures.
"He had a go at the lock but was unsuccessful.
"Fortunately there were no customers in the store at the time."

Mr Sodha described the lone criminal as white, in his mid 40s, about 6ft 3in tall and wearing a ski mask. He drove a silver BMW car.

In July 2009, two young gun-toting robbers held up the security guard reloading the cash point and escaped with the money, dumping their car in nearby Denham. The pair have never been caught.