Staff at an East Ham shop were attacked with a hazardous substance during a recent attempted robbery.

The incident took place at Newscorner, in Haldane Road, at about 6.30pm on August 16.

Staff were forced to turn to resident Alsatian, Rocky, to ward off their attackers, who brandished a gun while demanding cash.

One worker described staff as shaken up but unhurt after the incident, with the substance causing them to cough and have sore eyes.

A struggle ensued and the suspects fled the store, along Haldane Road where they were seen to get into a silver Mercedes which was driven off on Brampton Road.

Police were called to the scene and retrieved the store’s CCTV footage of the incident.

She said: “We are OK now but we were very shocked after we had heard about it.

“One (of the staff) came back the day after but he was still pretty shocked at what happened.

“They were asking us for money.”

The worker said this was the most violent incident they had to deal with in the last decade.

But she added they were thankful to Rocky.

She said: “About three years ago some people came and took some alcohol but never anything as bad as this.

“We don’t usually have any problems at all, people here are friendly, nice people.

“We always keep Rocky outside the shop.”

Police want to hear from anyone with information about the movements of the silver Mercedes, registration LE51 FHY, immediately prior to the robbery or anybody who was in the area around the time of the incident.

Contact 020 8345 4266 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.