Waqas Yousaf remembers the events of November 18, 2005, like they were yesterday.

"I will never forget what happened," said the 28-year-old, who is managing director of the Universal Express travel agency in Morley Street. "The memory will be etched on all our minds forever."

Six people were working at the premises at the time of the robbery - they were Mohammad Yousaf, his three sons Waqas Yousaf, Faris Khokhar, Aqeel Khokhar and employees Asim Maqsood and Mohammed Iqbal.

The business is divided into two offices separated by a glass divide.

The first office has staff behind desks answering inquiries about airline ticket sales and money transfers. The second is smaller and can only be entered from behind the desks of the first office or through a locked door.

Waqas described how the horror unfolded when the three robbers entered the premises at around 3.25pm.

He said: "They were all dressed smartly and they started asking questions about flights and money transfers.

"I was in the back in the kitchen area so I hadn't seen them at this time but if I had I would have been suspicious because they all kept their hands in their pockets."

Waqas first realised something was wrong when he heard shouting.

"I could just hear shouting and threats being given and I knew a robbery was taking place," he said.

Waqas's brother Faris Khokhar was in the main office at the time of the robbery.

He said: "One of the robbers jumped over the counter and dragged me and Mohammed Iqbal into the other office and pushed us to the floor. I had a gun pointed at my face.

"Another robber went through to the second office via the partition and the first thing he did was draw the blinds."

Waqas came out of the kitchen with Assim Maqsood and was confronted by Muzzaker Imtiaz Shah, who was holding a gun.

"It was then that I managed to press one of the panic buttons located in the office," said Waqas.

He and Assim were taken through to the second office where the rest of the staff were being tied up.

"Shah was nudging us forward with the butt of his gun," he said. "He was definitely the one in charge because he was the one running the job and telling the others what to do. He was in a rage and was the most aggressive of the three."

He said he could hear his brothers' screams as they were being hit by the other two robbers.

Faris, 27, who studies law, said: "We were all made to lie on the floor face down and they tied us all up with plastic strips that cut through our wrists. The only person they did not tie up was Waqas.

"I just kept pleading with them not to hurt my dad because he has a heart condition.

"As I was being tied up by Yusuf Jamma he was kicking me round the body.

"They kept threatening us saying we are going to kill you'."

Mohammed Iqbal and Mohammad Yousaf were tied up by the window at the front of the second office and Faris, Aqeel and Asim were tied up behind the desk of the second office. Waqas was also on the floor behind the desk but was not tied up.

Faris said Yusuf Jamma started going through the drawers of the desk looking for money. Shah also began demanding money.

"He just kept shouting and swearing and saying get us the money. We want £100,000 and we know you have it'," said Waqas. He told the robbers he had nowhere near that amount of money because he had just done the banking that afternoon.

"They wanted me to open the safe," he said.

"They told me then they wanted £50,000 and would not leave with less but we only had £5,400 in cash on the premises, which we handed over."

He described those moments as terrifying and frantic. "Every time we told them there was no more money they hit us more and called us liars," said Faris.

Faris said it was then that Shah showed his brother Waqas the bullets in the gun.

"He wanted us to know he was for real," he said.

Waqas said it was obvious throughout the heist that the robbers were amateurs.

"It was so badly planned," he said. "It was like watching something from a Wild West movie. The robbers were like cartoon characters waving around their guns and knife. They were complete novices, they knew nothing about the alarm systems or the panic buttons installed.

"They were just very agitated and incoherent. I just kept thinking how am I going to get them out of here?"

"We didn't know the police had arrived because there were no sirens but they shouted at us asking did you call the police?' and we said no. They were obviously in a complete panic and did not know what to do.

"They asked if there was another way out, which there isn't."

He said PC Beshenivsky and PC Milburn came into the foyer but could not get into the office because the door was locked.

He said the robbers fled in a complete panic and that was when they heard the shots.

"None of us saw the shots being fired because we were still all lying on the floor," said Faris. "Waqas was the first to get up and he called the emergency services and untied us all. Then he shouted to us that the officers had been shot.

"The police arrived within five minutes and then the whole thing was pandemonium as paramedics tried to revive PC Beshenivsky and treat PC Milburn."