Man with 'machete' pinned down by Lidl staff after incident at Preston store

A man was arrested after Lidl staff pinned him him to the ground and disarmed him following an incident in Preston.
By Paul Berentzen
Published 11th Apr 2020, 18:45 BST
Updated 14th Apr 2020, 13:20 BST
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Video footage from the scene appears to show a person on the floor, near the entrance to the supermarket chain's New Hall Lane store, while a bystander holds a machete-style knife that was reportedly taken from the suspect.

Police were called to the store at around 5.50pm on Friday (April 10) where officers cuffed the man and took over from staff who had been restraining the 42-year-old.

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A force spokesman said: "We attended and found a man had made threats with a machete towards a member of staff at the store, before being detained by a security guard.

Video footage from the scene reportedly showed a machete-style weapon that was taken from the suspect.Video footage from the scene reportedly showed a machete-style weapon that was taken from the suspect.
Video footage from the scene reportedly showed a machete-style weapon that was taken from the suspect.

"A man was arrested at the scene by officers."

Footage shows the weapon being handed over to police once on the scene.

One eye witness said it appeared the man had pulled out the weapon after being challenged for alleged shoplifting.

A 42-year-old Preston man was charged with affray and possession of an offensive weapon.

UPDATE: Lancashire Police initially reported the suspect's age as 17. This article has been updated after further details were released.