A cash box stolen in a “terrifying” robbery where two men attacked a security guard as he refilled a petrol station cash machine has been found in a Dagenham park.

Eyewitnesses claim a security guard was chased by two men and injured as he tried to replenish the stocks of the cash machine at the Tesco Extra petrol station in Goodmayes High Road this morning.

A Metropolitan Police spokeswoman confirmed they were called at 05:35am to reports of a cash in transit robbery at Goodmayes Retail Park.

She said: “The robbery at Tesco involved one box with an amount of cash being stolen.

“It is believed that two male suspects, one who was armed with a knife, threatened one of the van security guards with a knife, before fleeing on foot.

“The cash box was recovered shortly afterwards in a nearby location in Mayesbrook Park.”

A member of staff working in the petrol station told the Post: “Two men were waiting around the back of the machine and they jumped out and tried to grab him.

“One of the security guards was injured as it all happened.”

A spokesman for Loomis, the company in charge of refilling the cash machine, confirmed two men accosted an employee at the petrol station this morning.

He said: “One of them had a knife and they were able to get away with a small sum of money, the amount of which we would never disclose.

“We are standing behind the police in their investigations.”

A woman who works in the Goodmayes Retail Park said staff were shocked to learn about the incident.

She said: “We couldn’t believe it.

“We’ve heard it happened about 5am this morning.

“It’s terrifying to think it happened here, it’s a horrible thing to happen.”

The Met’s Flying Squad is now leading the investigation and there have been no arrests.

Anyone with information can call police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Enquiries continue.