A MAN with a knife pushed a store manager to the ground during an armed robbery at a food store in east Hull.

Staff were left shaken after the robber entered Farmfoods in Holderness Road on Saturday evening and ordered the victim to stuff cash into a holdall.

He is believed to have pushed the manager to the ground and threatened him before stealing about £800 from the safe, along with the manager's mobile phone and the office keys.

A regular customer at the store said the man came in asking for a job application form and there was a manager in his 20s in the store, along with a female teenage shop assistant on the shop floor.

The customer said: "The robber followed the manager into the back of the store and pulled a knife on him before ripping the office phone out of its socket.

"He took the contents of the safe along with the shop keys and demanded the manager's mobile phone."

The Farmfoods store closes at about 6pm on a Saturday and most of the takings had been counted and locked in the safe before the robber came in at about 5.15pm.

The woman said: "The shop assistant is believed to have called the police from her mobile after the robber ran out of the door and some of the customers saw him.

"Everyone has been left quite shocked by it all happening on our doorstep.

"You hear of robberies where a till is snatched and there was one just the other week but nothing like this.

"It's very scary and I'm glad I wasn't in the shop at the time."

The store's manager is now off work recovering from the ordeal at home.

Humberside Police say they are investigating the robbery at the frozen food store after being called just after 5.20pm on Saturday.

When officers arrived, customers were told to dump their shopping and leave the store before staff were interviewed about the robbery.

A police spokesman said: "As the staff member went to obtain an application form for the jobseeker, the man was reported to have followed the employee into the rear of the premises, making demands for money.

"It is alleged that the man, who was reported to have been carrying an orange coloured holdall, then instructed the staff member to place money from the safe into the holdall.

"The victim complied with the request, as he believed the assailant to be carrying a weapon.

"He also reported being threatened to hand over a personal mobile phone.

"The assailant is reported to have left the premises with an amount of cash and the mobile phone."

Detective Superintendent Scott Young said after the crime, officers undertook "prompt investigations."

He said: "We are now proactively following lines of inquiry and are confident this will result in a positive conclusion.

"We would like to reassure the public that incidents of this nature are always treated seriously and investigated as a priority."

Farmfoods declined to comment on the robbery but the company is working closely with police.

Anyone who has any information is asked to contact Humberside Police on the non-emergency number 101 quoting log number 475 of December 1.

• Crime news for Hull and East Yorkshire

A ONE-man crime wave has been banned from most of east Hull after "blighting" communities for 20 years.

Shaun Patterson, 36, is one of the city's most prolific criminals, responsible for dozens of offences, including burglaries, car thefts and shoplifting over two decades.

Now, Patterson has been banned from entering most of east Hull and Bransholme as part of an antisocial behaviour order (Asbo).

Sergeant Mark Peasgood, of the east neighbourhood policing team, said: "He has been a blight on the community of east Hull for years.

"We normally get a massive spike in crime when he is released from prison. He is an opportunistic thief who will steal anything he can get his hands on.

"He has committed house burglaries, shed burglaries, vehicle crime. You name it, he has probably done it."

Patterson was arrested twice during an operation to tackle burglaries in east Hull last year.

Operation Conqueror led to more than 50 people being jailed and burglaries in east Hull were halved.

Patterson told officers the east of the city is where he "works".

From January until he was jailed in April, Patterson committed six garage burglaries, two thefts, one theft from a car and one offence of criminal damage.

He was also convicted of twice assaulting police officers and one offence of going equipped to steal.

After being released from prison last month, Patterson was given an interim antisocial behaviour order.

Since the order was made at Hull Magistrates' Court, Patterson has not committed any further offences.

Sgt Peasgood said: "Patterson was one of our key targets during Operation Conqueror. Usually every time he is released from prison, crime goes up, but he hasn't committed any offences since he came out last month.

"We hope this order will go some way to addressing his behaviour. We are working with Patterson and are trying to help him but if he commits any more offences, we will take a hard stance."

Making the full antisocial behaviour order, District Judge Frederick Rutherford said: "Don't breach it otherwise you will be back before me and I will have to send you away."

Anyone who sees Patterson breaching the order should call Humberside Police on 101.

• Crime news for Hull and East Yorkshire

• More local business news

ON THE eve of a new Championship season Hull City vice chairman Ehab Allam bullishly outlined the club's ambitions for the nine months ahead.

"We need to be in the Premier League next season and I don't see any reason why we can't be," Allam stressed emphatically back in August.

Having already overseen two shortfalls during their progressive stewardship, finishing 11th under Nigel Pearson in 2010-11 and eighth under Nick Barmby 12 months later, it was hoped the appointment of Steve Bruce would be the catalyst for a leap into the top six.

A public declaration of their great expectations was bold in the extreme. Some would even call it ill-advised.

But after passing the 20 game mark with the Tigers starting to call the play-off places home, the City board's unadulterated show of ambition is almost halfway towards being realised.

Bruce, a two-time promotion winner out of the Championship, will be quick to place the emphasis heavily on the word "halfway."

Experience is the deadweight keeping the 53-year-old grounded. This breathless division can make fools of the over-excitable.

However, downplaying City's promotion hopes is becoming an increasingly onerous task.

Since winning 2-1 at Bristol City on October 27, City have been ever-presents in the Championship's top six. Much longer and they will be part of the furniture.

A 2-1 win at Nottingham Forest on Saturday, their 11th victory of the season, was the latest result to reaffirm a largely unspoken belief that this can be the Tigers' year.

Sustaining the current average of 1.75 points a game would bring 80 points and guarantees of the play-offs or more.

Not since 2004-05, when Peter Taylor's men clinched a place in the Championship with promotion out of League One, have the first 20 games of a season returned a greater tally than the current figure of 35 points.

Amassing such a haul has been no accident. City have outplayed a string of opponents and, to boot, done it in some style.

The seven defeats suffered along the way ensures the Tigers lag behind the top two of Cardiff and Crystal Palace, and reveals potential fault-lines running through their challenge.

But on each occasion where City have badly needed a result to stir flagging momentum, Bruce's men have duly responded by stoking the fires. Think Sheffield Wednesday, Bristol City and Birmingham.

Only once this season, when losing in consecutive fixtures to Leicester, Peterborough and Blackpool, have City gone three games without a win. To lend the quirky word invented by one-time boss Iain Dowie, it suggests the Tigers have "bouncebackability" in abundance.

If the spirit displayed time and again is one hallmark of a side on the up, another is the depth now at Bruce's disposal.

With Tom Cairney and Jack Hobbs back in the travelling squad at Nottingham Forest, the City boss had an 18-man match-day squad supplemented by the two returning stars, Ben Amos and Andy Dawson with him in the East Midlands.

All, you suspect, will be needed for the rigours of the month ahead – especially if David Meyler returns to parent club Sunderland – but City appear well-equipped for a run of six games in 24 days beginning at Watford this weekend.

Even with Matty Fryatt and Joe Dudgeon ruled out until next summer with cruel season-ending injuries, City's squad extends far deeper than previous promotion challenges under Pearson and Barmby.

Should a natural goalscorer be sourced in January, it could be the telling final piece of the jigsaw.

Goals, or a lack of them, have derailed City's promotion hopes for the last two years.

Last season, in particular, saw the good work of Barmby's boys undermined by a paltry return of 10 goals from their final 11 games. Another player in double figures alongside Robert Koren and Fryatt and it could have been different.

Bruce is unwilling to take a similar risk and, even after marked improvements with 29 goals in the first 20 games, he is understandably beginning to search for solutions. Nothing will be left to chance.

If history offers us a yardstick with which to measure Bruce's side, their credentials cannot be easily ignored after facing almost every side in the division.

City are currently eight points better off than Phil Brown's promotion-winning side of 2007-08, who were being thumped 3-0 at Preston five years ago today.

Worse was to come within days when routed 4-0 at Southampton but a superb second half to the campaign would eventually bring 75 points, third place and a route to immortality at Wembley.

Bruce's men, game by game, are showing enough to suggest they could yet follow in those famous steps back towards the top flight.

The giddy amongst City's following are even eyeing up the top two, citing room for further development as the case for automatic promotion.

The Tigers have produced too many off-days to keep pace with Cardiff and Crystal Palace through the opening four months of the season, but Peter Taylor's class of 2003-04, who went on to finish second in the old Division Three, were only two points better off after their opening 20 games.

As Bruce would be happy to hear, though, this will end with a word of warning for those already beginning to plan their parties for next May.

The last time City had amassed this many points after 20 games in the second tier was back in 1987-88 when Brian Horton's final year in charge brought 37 points by the end of November. Six months later, the Tigers' tally had risen to just 57 points to bring a sorry final standing of 15th.

Be wary but be optimistic, 2013 is shaping up to be a bright year.

• Motorists warned of icy conditions

• Five-day weather forecast

FIRMS based on land earmarked for the anticipated arrival of the new £80m Siemens offshore wind turbine factory have been relocated.

The relocation of firms off Alexandra Dock in east Hull is just one part of a complex jigsaw of measures being put into place ahead of an expected final decision by the global engineering giant early in the New Year to invest in the city.

After the publication of the Government's Energy Bill last week, the company said its plans for the Hull facility remained "on track".

Now, Hull City Council has been revealed that all but one of the firms previously based at the dock have been successfully relocated to other sites in the city.

The exception is long-established ship repair firm MMS which will continue to operate from a dry dock next to the proposed Siemens complex.

Mark Jones, the city council's economic development and regeneration manger, told a council meeting: "Alexandra Dock is now empty in terms of activity apart from the ship repair facility at the dry dock.

"All the stored timber has come off the dock and been taken to Queen Elizabeth Dock or other dockland locations.

"All the other companies have also been moved successfully and there has actually been some employment growth at some firms as a result of that relocation.

"There was a concern we might lose some jobs in the relocation process but that has not happened. In fact, it's gone the other way."

THE final closure of a controversial tip has been confirmed by the Environment Agency.

From January 1, operator City Plant Ltd will no longer be able to deposit general waste at Gilberdyke Landfill Site next to the M62.

It will only be allowed to proceed with capping the site to seal the waste site for restoration to a natural appearance.

The Environment Agency permit change was issued because, as the company said would happen between November 2012 and February 2013, the site has reached its maximum capacity.

Drivers in Hull and the East Riding are being warned to check traffic conditions before setting off overnight and tomorrow with forecasts of up to two inches of snow.

The Highways Agency has been advised of potential hazardous driving conditions by the Met Office.

Chris Holehouse of the Highways Agency said: "We are not anticipating any particular problems and will be monitoring and using salt to treat the network as we do routinely at this time of the year.

"However, snow showers can be highly localised and hard to predict so drivers have a key role to play in checking weather reports and planning for their journeys before leaving home."

Up-to-date information on road conditions on England's motorways and trunk roads is available on the Highways Agency website at www.highways.gov.uk/traffic or by calling the Highways Agency Information Line at 0300 123 5000.

Traffic information is available on Twitter by following @HAtraffic_neast and @HAtraffic_yorks, with winter driving information on @winterhighways and on Facebook (facebook.com/winterhighways)

• Snow forecast for Hull and East Yorkshire

IT'S not every day you discover a pair of fashionable shoes made from recycled bottle tops, denim or even hemp.

To reflect two of her passions in life, Sara Owen has launched a business selling shoes that are 100 per cent vegan.

This is where the unique materials come in.

The Patrington entrepreneur has been a vegan for the past seven years and, according to the 25-year-old, the products she sells are for "ladies who care about animals and don't want to wear them".

Sara said: "It's not just about what you eat. It is about what you are wearing too – it all comes from the same place.

"I absolutely love shoes, so I decided to start the website. I couldn't find any environmentally friendly shoes that were pretty.

"I've got sparkly shoes, satin ones, furry leopard print ones, a bit of everything, and everything is ethically sourced. Animals don't suffer."

The online business – www.veganshoes.co.uk – has a variety of women's shoes, sourced from across Europe, and they are all handmade.

In line with taking a different approach to fashion than most, Sara's shoes are also made using vegan-friendly glue.

She said: "The glue used to make shoes is usually created from boiled-down animal bones but the glue used to make the shoes in my business is a rubber and water-based solution and is 100 per cent animal-free.

"I can guarantee the shoes are 100 per cent vegan."

The entrepreneur, who has been interested in fashion since she was young, also sells a range of vegan belts and purses.

For Sara, the business is all about trying to make a difference

She has had a number of different jobs over the past few years but say she has now found something she really believes in.

Sara said: "I never felt like I was making a difference in any of my previous roles.

"I knew I needed to find something different to do, and this was it.

"The business is going really well and heading in the right direction.

"There's a lot of people interested in the idea and I feel like I am doing something I believe in and selling a product I believe in.

"Even if just one person buys a pair, I still feel happy because I am raising awareness.

"A big part of the business is raising awareness."

Sara is now making plans to start selling more labels and get the next stage of her business going.

She is set to launch her own designs and also begin selling a range of vegan men's shoes and baby shoes.

Sara said: "I am really looking forward to designing my own shoes.

"It will be an important stage for my business.

"I can see the business growing and growing."

The first business to move to the Humber Enterprise Zone has been announced.

The Humber Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) revealed Cablescan will relocate its UK operations to the BAE systems site in Brough later this month.

The move from their Beverley facility to the Enterprise Zone will enable the company to grow their business and create ten jobs.

Cablescan employs 40 people, manufacturing and developing high-performance electrical cable assemblies and control panels for aerospace, defence and commercial use.

Lord Haskins, chairman of the LEP, said: "We are delighted the Enterprise Zone is helping a local company to grow.

"With the benefits available to companies through the Enterprise Zone status, together with the facilities already in existence at BAE Systems Brough, this is an excellent example of the public and private sector working together to help stimulate the local economy.

"The LEP and its partners are actively promoting the Enterprise Zones and we are hopeful more agreements will follow."

The Humber LEP is a business-led partnership with Humber local authorities and aims to promote economic growth in the region. It secured the largest Enterprise Zone allocation in the country last year, totalling 484 hectares and 15 sites across the Humber.

Tony Pontone, director at Cablescan, said: "The opportunity provided by the Enterprise Zone was too good for us to miss.

"As a company we have continually looked to grow and the facilities at BAE Systems Brough, together with the incentives provided through the Enterprise Zone, have presented us with an opportunity to expand and in doing so create more skilled jobs in the region."

A RUGBY legend has set up a charitable foundation to tackle deprivation in his native Papua New Guinea.

The Stanley Gene Foundation aims to collect donations from clothes and books to furniture and shoes to help people on the Oceania island.

The former Hull KR and Hull FC player has already paid for electricity and running water for his local village as well as building schools.

Now, he wants the donations to help equip the schools and hospitals, but needs Mail readers to help.

Stanley said: "The people of the Hull area have been tremendous.

"For many years, I have been sending things over to Papua New Guinea but now I have decided to set up a charity and do it properly."

A container full of items has been sent over and is expected to arrive just after Christmas. The former rugby player hopes to send another one early next year.

Stanley, who has just returned from a trip to Papua New Guinea, said: "It is great to see people's smiles when they get the gifts.

"In the hospitals, there was nothing for people to do apart from a radio.

"In some schools, there are no chairs so the kids have to learn on the floor.

"For people in the mountains, some of the kids don't even have any clothes."

As well as donations, which can be taken to Craven Park, businesses who are willing to be drop-off points are needed.

If you can help, call Eve Clark on 07808 240986.

HUMBERSIDE'S new Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) has asked the Home Secretary to ensure the long-term security of Special Branch officers in the region.

Matthew Grove made the call after joining 40 other PCCs at a Home Office "welcome event" in London.

He said: "I raised a question regarding the long-term security of Special Branch and counter terrorism officers.

"My priority is to protect the residents of East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire and, while I fully support shouldering our share of national security issues, we must also make sure this is not at the cost of our own local security and the safety of our residents."

Monday's event was the first time all 41 commissioners had met since the first PCC elections on November 15.

The ballots were marred by record-low turnouts. In the Humberside force area, Mr Grove, the Conservative candidate, narrowly beat former deputy prime minister and Hull East MP Lord Prescott.

Mr Grove said the Home Office gathering had been "an excellent opportunity to meet with my fellow commissioners and discuss shared interests".

The PCCs also received briefings on national security and counter terrorism issues.

Reports suggested the Home Secretary was also pressed for a radical rethink of a planned 20 per cent cut to the policing budget.

Some PCCs claimed recent audits demonstrated that Whitehall spending cuts would hit their forces much harder than previously thought.

Commissioners and chief constables have both warned that forces cannot cope with a further round of police spending cuts without doing serious damage to frontline policing.

Mr Grove said: "All the PCCs in attendance were keen to find out and maximise the national settlement for our forces.

"But, equally, we accepted that we would have to wait for the Chancellor's Autumn Statement and also the police grant settlement from central Government."

It is expected that draft Home Office proposals for police funding covering the next two financial years will be published just before Christmas.

But the Government has insisted forces can absorb 20 per cent funding cuts without damaging frontline policing if they are prepared to undertake "transformational" partnerships with the private sector to reduce back-office costs.

FAMILIES facing a tough Christmas financially are urged not to use loan sharks.

East Riding Council has teamed up with the England Illegal Money Lending Team to crack down on unregulated money lenders.

They say the risk is that people may take out what seems like a small loan to tide them over Christmas but it could cost them hefty repayments well into the new year.

The council has been running a six-month roadshow at its customer service centres and Citizens' Advice Bureaus warning people about loan sharks.

Councillor Jackie Cracknell, cabinet portfolio holder for community partnerships, said: "The current financial climate is proving challenging for families and, as a result, people, through no fault of their own, may have become victims to the horrific tactics of loan sharks.

"Please do not suffer in silence, your problem can only be resolved by contacting the Illegal Money Lending Team."

The team says 20 per cent of victims had borrowed originally to pay for festivities.

Loan sharks rarely offer paperwork and are unclear on the terms of the loan, so borrowers do not know how much they are actually paying. Extra amounts and interest payments can be added at random.

The team has dealt with victims who have paid tens of thousands of pounds back on small loans over a number of years. Some have even been forced to hand over their bank card and their PIN so the loan shark will completely control their finances.

As the debts cannot legally be enforced, the lenders will often resort to threats, violence and other extreme methods to enforce repayment.

The team has investigated loan sharks and prosecuted them, including loan sharks who have threatened to harm victim's families and pets, throw acid into their face or burn down their homes.

They have also seen cases were violence has been used, including a victim who was kidnapped and attacked with a machete and a woman victim who was raped.

Tony Quigley, head of the England Illegal Money Lending Team, said: "No matter how much you are struggling financially, loan sharks are not the answer. They are motivated only by their own greed and are not offering you a service.

"These criminals should always be avoided at all costs. They could easily ruin your Christmas and you could be subjected to years of harassment.

"We'd recommend credit unions as a safe, legal alternative."

Visit www.abcul.org for information on credit unions.

If you have been the victim of a loan shark, call 0300 555 2222 for advice.

THE Hessle Road pram race is unlikely to go ahead next year, with the trust behind the event set to disband.

The traditional event was revived in 2009 to celebrate the 160th anniversary of Hessle Road.

It was first organised by Peter Nicholson in 1985.

The race continued for 17 years and Mr Nicholson helped form a new committee from community groups, so the race could return once again.

But due to rising costs and other setbacks, the trust has decided to call it a day.

Organiser Tracey Henry said: "We have decided to take this action due to the lack of trustees through resignations and health, along with the lack of money going around in the community to cover the costs.

"The Pram Race Trust will close after the funds are dispersed.

"It's with a sad heart we have to do this but the event this year raised very little money for the community despite £9,000 from Arco for the sponsoring the event and £1,000 donation from Tesco.

"On the day we raised about £1,000 from the bucket collections and donations."

But Ms Henry has praised those who have helped run the event and believes the race could continue in the future.

She said: "We shouldn't forget the hundreds of hours of manpower from Hessle Road Network staff, community volunteers and many others who took part as contestants, without whom there would be no race.

"Shops and other community groups, such as the Hull Boys Club, made the day into a fabulous community event for all ages of the Hessle Road community.

"However, there is at least one community group interested in trying to keep the pram race side of this event alive and will be making enquiries into whether this is possible for future years."

Trust member and former organiser Kim Hepple is disappointed.

She said: "The trust was only supposed to organise it for a couple of years and then the community was going to take it over.

"But no one has really come forward and those on the trust are very busy people.

"It may be that we will carry on the carnival but the cost of holding the race, with road closures and setting up barriers and electrics, is just too great.

"It has been a brilliant event but we need more support from traders and the community.

"I am really proud of what the trust has achieved and it's a shame if it ends."

Donna Finn, chairman of the Hessle Road Traders' Association, is keen to keep the pram race going.

She said: "It's disappointing to hear this news.

"We need a really strong traders' association to bring more businesses on board.

"With more trader involvement, I think the event could be better still.

"We don't want to lose traditions like this. It keeps the fishing heritage alive.

"Maybe we should get fishermen's families involved.

"I will look to speak to traders in the new year to see what can be done."

Ward councillor Nadine Fudge has also promised to see what she and her colleagues can do.

She said: "The cost of holding it has become too great, which is a big shame.

"A lot of people look forward to the day and I thought it was getting bigger.

"But I will get together with my colleagues and look into what can be done."

There will be a round of funding to go out to the community early next year from money raised from the pram race.

Groups from the Hessle Road area can apply for funding of up to £300, while £6,000 will go to Hessle Road Network for a project called Game On.