TWO NEIGHBOURS have been hailed as heroes after stopping raiders from getting away from a crime scene - by barricading them in the shop they were stealing from.

One of them has said it’s all a blur now but last night he ran to the rescue with his neighbour to stop two men wearing crash helmets from leaving the Esso Garage in Chandler’s Ford with more than £1,000 worth of cigarettes.

Daily Echo: The brick used to smash into the store

The pair, who live near the garage in Bournemouth Road, were outside when they heard an alarm and spotted two figures at the checkout after closing time at 10pm.

As one of them got closer he realised that the door had been smashed open with a giant brick and they were carrying a huge green gardening bag full of cigarettes, so he grabbed a nearby traffic cone to barricade the door and stop them leaving.

His neighbour was close behind him and helped guard the door, as well as immobilising the getaway motorbike.

The self-employed 40-year-old said: “It doesn’t really seem real now, it’s unbelievable to think that was me but I didn’t really think I just saw it happening and had to do something to help and stop these two thieves leaving and risk the chance of them doing it again.

“Thinking about it now they could have had anything, a knife or gun but we were looking out for our neighbourhood. I don’t know what came over me.”

The two men guarded the door until police were able to get to the scene following reports of a burglary between 10.40pm and 10.50pm.

During that time the pair tried to escape by kicking the window near the checkout desk and then ran upstairs to the loft where they hid in the roof.

He added: “You could see the corrugated parts of the roof moving where they were crawling inside trying to hide and when I ran round the side of the garage I saw a motorbike which was still running and knocked it over to stop them being able to escape.”

In the garage today, manager Caroline Hatch and her husband Martin said they couldn’t praise the pair enough.

Daily Echo: Caroline and Martin Hatch

Martin said: “We were called to come in after police got there and we found out what they had done – they are true heroes who performed the most amazing act of bravery for their neighbourhood.”

Caroline added: “We can’t thank them enough, it was so selfless to put themselves at risk like that and they did so well to stop the thieves actually leaving the property so police could actually arrest them.”

Speaking about the thieves, Caroline said: “They must have been pretty desperate to try and break through a window and then hide in our roof but our heroes stopped them from getting away and I can’t thank them enough.”

A spokesperson for Hampshire Constabulary confirmed that they had arrested a 27-year-old man from Chandler's Ford and a 23-year-old man from Southampton, who are both currently in police custody.