News

Shop owner tells armed robber to wait because ‘I'm having a cup of tea’

Shop owner tells armed robber to wait because ‘I'm having a cup of tea’
Getty Images/iStockphoto

For better or for worse, that ‘stiff upper lip’ mentality so quintessentially British refuses to fade out of existence.

Just as well, as the attitude is precisely what saved shop owner Karamjit Sangha from lighter pockets and potential bodily harm.

Sangha had been sitting behind the counter in her Hull corner shop, sipping a cup of tea when Stuart Gleeson entered the premises brandishing a seven inch kitchen knife,Hull Daily Mailreports.

Picture: Google Maps

Gleeson demanded she hand over all the money in the till.

Sangha’s response will go down in British history.

Shesaid:

I told him I was having a cup of tea.

Legend.

Gleeson had demanded she put her tea down and hand over the money, but she picked up a craft knife instead and ‘waved’ it at him until, spooked, he fled.

The robber was quickly apprehended and sentenced on Friday to up to five years in prison for attempted robbery and possession of a knife.

More: Twelve incredibly British phrases the rest of the world doesn't understand

More: Tea or coffee? A map of the world according to who prefers which of each drink

The Conversation (0)