Family wakes to car in shop front

Aman Singh woke before dawn yesterday to find a car abandoned in the middle of his store.

Two tills had been pinched, the front of the store was smashed and glass littered the floor.

His was the first of two Waikato stores ram raided overnight.

Waitak Country Store in Waitakaruru was rammed at 2.15am yesterday, Waikato Police Senior Sergeant Tina Shaw said.

After smashing into the store front with a vehicle, the robbers pinched two cash tills and left the car.

‘‘We believe a second vehicle left from the scene,’’ Shaw said.

About 45 minutes later KBeez grocery store in Huntly was ram raided, too. The front of the store was smashed with a vehicle and cigarettes and cash trays were stolen.

Police are now looking for a cream coloured Subaru Outback, with the front bumper missing in relation to the second ram raid. It’s too early to say whether the two robberies are linked, Shaw said.

Singh, the owner of Waitak Country Store, said his family – who live at the back of the store – didn’t hear the car smash into the front of the Hauraki store.

It’s next to State Highway 25, where there are always trucks trundling past, so the family is accustomed to noise.

But after a call from security, the family – Singh’s parents, wife and two children – found the front of the store badly damaged.

Yesterday morning, after only a few hours sleep, the family planned to open the store once the investigator had been through.

‘‘We are still going to open. We’re going to clean up and get back to work,’’ Singh said. ‘‘We can’t let them put us down.’’

It’s the second robbery in the seven years the family have owned the store. The first was six months ago. Singh worries about his family’s safety, living attached to the shop. He hopes the culprits ‘‘get a proper job’’.

‘‘We work seven days, 13 hours a day. You don’t expect this.’’