A HAVE-A-GO hero chased off armed robbers using little more than an umbrella in Rayners Lane today.

Two men wearing bandannas across their faces tried to smash their way through the windows of Sangamam Jewellers as terrified school children watched on at around 4.15pm.

But the pair fled before they could knock through the glass when members of the public intervened.

Sivar Ruban, owner of Ideal Digital Lab, said: “I was shocked – it was the way they drove the car up onto the pavement, how fast they were.

“There were a lot of school children screaming. There were members of the public after them as well. There were two or three guys, one with an umbrella, and they were shouting.

“It's scary for the staff there and it's the third time on the jewellers. People cannot tolerate these things.”

Roy Guinn, owner of the Euronics Centre opposite, said: “I heard a couple of bangs and I saw a guy with an umbrella chase a couple of guys away. He had it up above his head.

“It's a shame there's not more people who do it but then you would end up with more people with a sledge hammer on top of their head.”

Witnesses described seeing the pair flee in the 4x4 car they arrived in after being chased off by the group of bystanders.

Shopkeepers in the area say it is the third time the shop has been raided, once in broad daylight last Saturday afternoon and once in August 2009.