A 67-year-old mechanic helped fight off two youths who held up a Forest Gate store at gunpoint on Wednesday.

The suspects entered East London Wine in Shrewsbury Road just before 5pm, with one brandishing a large blade and the other trying to get behind the till last Wednesday.They fled, before returning half an hour later with a handgun and baseball bat.

The two men, dressed in hoods with covered faces, began violently assaulting the shopkeeper with the weapons and glass bottles before a mechanic in the store grabbed a spanner from his toolbox to defend the 60-year-old.

No shots were fired and the men fled empty-handed.

The shopkeeper and mechanic were taken to an East London hospital for facial injuries and have been discharged.

There have been no arrests.

Anyone with any information can contact the Flying Squad East Office on 0208 345 1400 or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.