TWO pensioners have slammed plans to close the area’s police stations after being robbed within three days of each other at neighbouring cashpoints.

Bob Polnik, 81, is at home in the Avenue, Wanstead, nursing his injuries after being beaten to the ground by three men outside Barclays Bank in The High Street. 

He was set upon as he withdrew £150 from the machine just before 3pm on September 6.

He said: “As I was moving to take my card out, a guy whacked me in the right ankle and then another one came in from the left, bent me backwards, and pushed me to the floor.

“I tried to get to my feet, but one of them was pinning me down and taking the money.”

Mr Polnik was left with a badly bruised leg as the men ran across the road to Wanstead Place and jumped in a dark grey Vauxhall Vectra, almost colliding with another car as they sped off.

Two days later, Ron Burton, 78, of Carlton Terrace, was targeted at the nearby Natwest cashpoint.

The retired railway worker said: “I noticed there was a bloke standing very close behind me, and I suppose he must have been taking note of my pin number.”

Deciding he needed to withdraw more money, he returned to the ATM moments later.

“As I got my card out the guy rushed me and threw a bunch of papers over the machine,” he said.

“I was totally confused and he grabbed the card and ran off.”

Mr Burton went in to tell the bank what had happened but, by the time his details had been processed, the thief had emptied the remaining £90 from his account.

“He cleaned me out,” said Mr Burton.

“I went to the police station to report it, but there was nobody there and I didn’t know what to do.

“I have worked all my life to earn what little I have and then you get people like this who think it’s easier to rob people. It makes me very angry.”

Both men have spoken out about the possibility of Wanstead police station being put up for sale when the Metropolitan Police publishes its London-wide estates review later this month.

Mr Polnik said: “It is not very safe around here anymore, and yet there is still all this talk about closing the police station.

“I think this just proves that must not happen.”

The men who attacked Mr Polnik are believed to be Asian and aged between 18 and 22.

The man who stole Mr Burton’s card is described as a black, in his early 20s, around 5ft 7in with a slim build.

Anyone with information should call the Robbery Squad at Ilford Police Station on 0208 345 2653, email JI-RobberySquad@met.police.uk or call Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.

• Detective Inspector Craig Robinson, who leads the Redbridge robbery squad, warned pensioners to be on their guard but does not believe the incidents are linked.

He said: “There is generally not a problem with elderly people being targeted on Wanstead High Street, but anywhere you have an ageing population it is a bit like a watering hole for lions.”

Despite the attacks, police have said they have no plans to revive a pioneering cashpoint scheme for pensioners.

Wanstead safer neighbourhood team (SNT) was singled out for praise by the then Prime Minister Gordon Brown in 2009 for offering escorts to ATMs.

But Sergeant Ian Watts of Wanstead SNT said: “I am not aware of any plans to reintroduce that scheme.”

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