A vehicle said to have been driven by a person wearing a balaclava was rammed into the front of a Keighley town centre shop this morning.

A display window of Cash Converters was smashed and wrenched out of its frame in the incident, shortly after 10am.

Assistant manager Natasha Bowen said none of the jewellery behind the window was stolen. She said she heard the sound of the crash while she was in a neighbouring part of the store, but by the time she came out the vehicle involved had gone.

The front of the shop remained cordoned off this morning while police officers interviewed staff.

A spokesman for Airedale and North Bradford Police said: “We were called at 10.01am to reports of a ram raid at a commercial premises on Cavendish Street, Keighley.

“It is reported a purple and silver Mitsubishi had driven at the window of the premises before making off down Hanover Street. Nothing had been stolen.

“Inquiries are ongoing and the force helicopter has been called in to assist with the search for the vehicle.”

Ian Billingsley, who works at Cartridge World on the opposite side of the road, said: “I heard a bang and saw what looked like a grey pick-up reversing. 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 type vehicle again being driven into Cash Converters’ facade.

“I ran back inside to get the phone and by the time I came back the vehicle had gone,” she added.

Ingrow resident Allan Douglas, who said he saw the aftermath of the incident while walking to work, said: “I’m amazed someone has actually tried something like this in broad daylight. A lot of people walk down that pavement in the day so it’s lucky no one was hurt.”