A learner driver's test ended abruptly on Monday when two robbers hijacked his car.

The post office raiders dragged the 18-year-old from his Ford Fiesta and ordered the examiner out.

They had just stolen a cash box being delivered to the post office in Holland Road, Clacton-on-Sea, Essex.

Police said the robbers had planned to escape by motorcycle, but a car had blocked them in.

Post office owner Stephen Moseley said: "He had just stopped to make a maneouvre when they opened the door and dragged him out."

It hasn't been a good day for him at all Mark Shadbolt Tendring School of Motoring

Mr Moseley, who had followed the robbers on foot after tackling one, said the learner driver was "absolutely distraught" immediately after the incident.

But Mark Shadbolt, the owner of the Tendring School of Motoring, said: "The pupil seems OK. He's a good lad and he's fine.

One arrest

"It hasn't been a good day for him at all."

The car was found 20 minutes later in an industrial estate and the stolen cash box was later found in a garden on Beford Road.

Both thieves are described as six-foot-two, and were wearing white crash helmets, one with stickers on it, and dark bomber jackets and trousers.

Police said they have arrested one man in connection with the incident.