A bungling armed robber fled empty handed after he struck at a Bradford shop before a single customer had been served.

The early-rising masked man walked into Museum Stores in Moorside Road, Eccleshill, at 6.45am yesterday brandishing a hammer and demanded shopkeeper Didar Bansal hand over money from the till.

Mr Bansal, 63, initially thought the balaclava-wearing raider was one of his customers “having a joke” but then realised his general store and newsagents was being held up.

He told the Telegraph & Argus he was frightened but remained calm enough to tell the would-be robber he had not served any customers and had no money in the till. The man then picked up a bag he hoped would be filled with cash, turned on his heel and left.

“I don’t think he was a professional,” said Mr Bansal. “He came in just after I had opened at half past six. I was doing my papers and this guy walked in. I was looking down, counting the papers and he said ‘give me your bloody money’.

“I thought it was one of the customers joking but I looked up and he had a balaclava on.

“I said ‘I’ve just opened the shop, there’s nothing in the till’. He said ‘show me, open it up!’ I said ‘I’ve not served a single customer’. He said ‘where is the bloody safe?’ and I told him we didn’t have a safe.

“He just picked up the bag he had brought in for me to put money in and walked out.”

Mr Bansal followed as the man ran up Musgrave Road and called the police. He said: “I was frightened but there was no point chasing him. If he fell, he would probably sue me. I just saw him go up Musgrave Road towards Leeds Road and then I phoned the police.”

Mr Bansal, a married dad-of-two, said the wannabe raider was about 5ft 6ins, of slim build and in his 30s. He was wearing a black balaclava.

Raiders previously struck at the shop, which Mr Bansal has run for nine years, in November 2007. In that robbery, two men burst in, brandishing wooden sticks, and made off with the till after confronting the shopkeeper.

Detectives are investigating yesterday’s attempted raid. Detective Inspector Richard Partis said: “We do know if he was hanging about outside the shop for some time prior to the incident.

“I would appeal for members of the public who were in that vicinity and who saw a man acting suspiciously to contact Airedale and North Bradford CID on the non-emergency 101 number.”