A hero security guard stopped six masked men from making off with £100,000 of metal by using his car to set up a blockade.

Brave Terry Hamer, who works for Walsall-based Securitas in Queen Street in the town, was confronted with the gang when he was carrying out routine checks at Wednesbury-based Lowe and Fletcher Locks. During his Saturday night shift, at around 6pm, the father-of-two discovered six men lifting the valuable goods into the back of a truck.

But they were forced to flee empty-handed before escaping on foot.

Mr Hamer, 52, said: “It is not unusual to find workers on the estate at night, but I knew straightaway there was something not right about this bunch as they wouldn’t speak to me and most of them were wearing hoods up and scarves wrapped round their faces.”

Mr Hamer, from Bloxwich, jumped into action, reporting the suspicious group by radio then moving his car into the centre of the main gates to stop anyone getting away from the site in Moorcroft Drive.

But the gang, obviously spooked by the security man and frustrated by the sight of his Peugeot 306 blocking their escape route, decided to flee empty handed instead. But not before smashing up the company car with bricks.

Mr Hamer has worked as a security guard for 13 years but said it was the first time he had foiled what would have been a lucrative robbery.

Mr Hamer has been praised by his bosses.