A SAFE was stolen from a New Forest newsagent when a shop assistant was distracted.

The large security box was taken away from the McColls convenience store in Milford Road, Lymington.

Officers said that a "large" amount of cash was contained in the safe but will not disclose the exact amount.

It also held mobile phone cards, stamps and scratch cards.

The incident occurred when a man told the shop assistant that he had come to pick up a key which he had left there earlier.

The member of staff went to the back office to look for the key but could not find anything and returned to the front of the shop to inform the man.

The employee told police that he noticed another man loitering outside the front of the store as he did so.

Some time later the shop worker went to fetch some stock from the storeroom and noticed that a nearby office door had been forced open.

On closer inspection he discovered the brown-coloured safe, measuring approximately one metre high, had disappeared.

Two sack trolleys had been moved and police believe they could have been used to transport the safe through the back door and into a waiting vehicle.

Due to the size and weight of the safe, officers believe it would have taken at least two people to lift the item into the back of a large vehicle, possibly a van.

The first man is described as white, aged in his 50s, approximately 6ft 5in, of large, stocky build. He was wearing a black bobble hat, black jacket and blue jeans. The second man is described as white, approximately 30 years old, 5ft 7in tall and of a slim build.

Anyone with information should contact PC Pieri at Lymington police station on 0845 045 4545.