A balaclava-wearing driver ram-raided a town centre pawn shop - while it was open – in a bid to steal jewellery.

A display window of Cash Converters in Cavendish street was smashed and wrenched out of its frame – but the would-be raider sped away empty-handed, after a second attempt to smash the glass failed.

Yesterday police were still searching for the vehicle – a purple and silver Mitsubishi – which was driven off down Hanover Street. A police helicopter was called in at one stage to try to track the pick-up Assistant shop manager Natasha Bowen said that none of the jewellery behind the window was stolen.

She said she heard the sound of the crash while she was in another part of the store, but by the time she came out the vehicle had already gone. She said the damaged window was made of reinforced glass and was specially designed for businesses such as pawn shops and jewellers.

The front of the shop was cordoned off on Monday morning while police officers interviewed staff. The following day the window was boarded up and the store was open for business.

Ian Billingsley, who works at Cartridge World on the opposite side of the road, saw what happened in the seconds after the vehicle first struck the shop.

“I heard a bang and saw what looked like a grey pick-up reversing,” he said. “At first I thought it was just trying to park on the pavement.

“The person driving it was wearing a balaclava. It seemed like he was trying to drive into the shop again but maybe couldn’t get the angle right.”

The deputy manager of the shop 2nd Time Around, which is on the same side of the street as Cash Converters, said she went outside when she heard a loud noise and heard someone shouting for the police. The woman, who did not want to give her name, said she saw what looked like a four-wheel-drive vehicle again being driven into the Cash Converters facade. “I ran back inside to get the phone and by the time I came back the vehicle had gone,” she said.

Ingrow resident Allan Douglas, who witnessed the scene a few minutes later while walking to work, said: “I’m amazed someone tried something like this in broad daylight. A lot of people walk down that pavement so it’s lucky no one was hurt.”