POLICE are today still hunting a gunman who carried out an armed robbery and hijacked a car during his getaway.

The masked robber walked into The Londis Shop and Post Office in Abbotsbury Road in Weymouth with what is believed to be a shotgun before pointing it at cashiers and shop assistants and demanding money as schoolchildren looked on.

The man left with cash in a brown bag and onlookers rushed outside as he sped off in a red Nissan Almera.

After turning into Benville Road from the Fiveways junction in Westham the robber was confronted by police and crashed into a traffic light as he reversed to get away.

A bus driver who stopped at Fiveways told how a policeman approached the car to try and arrest the man but he pointed a gun at the officer.

The gunman then shouted at a woman to get out of her car before stealing it - driving the car the wrong way down Lynch Road and smashing into cars as he escaped.

Dozens of officers including armed response vehicles and dog units surrounded Wyke Regis in search of the car and at one point eight police cars were parked up at Ferrybridge.

Armed response vehicles were seen speeding throughout Weymouth as they followed up reported sightings of the robber.

One police source said they forcibly stopped a car with a 'stinger' machine to pop the tyres but it is believed it was the wrong car and the search continued with undercover officers also called in.

A 14-year-old girl who witnessed the robbery when she went into the shop on her way home from Budmouth College described what she saw as she stood with her shocked mother.

She said: "He pointed a gun at one of the ladies' heads.

"He had a mask on and demanded cash and they gave it to him.

"Then he ran out of the shop."

Some shoppers outside said the man also had a knife but police said that had not been confirmed.

First Buses driver Paul Barton saw the drama unfold at the Fiveways junction close to Alf's fish and chip shop.

He said: "The police blocked the road off so he reversed and smashed his car into the traffic light.

"The police officer came out to pull him out of the car but he waived the gun straight in his face.

"I was in my bus and this was happening 10 yards away.

"At one point he was coming towards me and I was thinking 'oh no what's going to happen.'

Mr Barton, 33, said he then saw the gunman steal the woman's car before driving away as other motorists tried to steer to the side of the road to avoid him.

He added: "I've lived here all my life and never known anything like it. There was coppers everywhere but they couldn't do anything as those officers weren't armed and he had a gun.

"It looked like a shotgun and he aimed it straight at the copper's face."

Pollice later arrested a man outside the Esso garage in Lanehouse Rocks Road in connection with the incident and seized a blue Ford Mondeo.

However, police said the arrested man is not the armed robber and the hunt is continuing for him today.

Police also swooped at a house next door to the Wyke Smugglers pub in Wyke Regis last night.

One eyewitness said: "I saw about 10 armed officers enter the house.

"Some pointed guns up the stairs while others searched the ground floor.

"They searched the upstairs with sniffer dogs as well but don't seem to have found anyone."