A courageous 22-year-old man, who is a Biomedical Engineering student at the University of Bradford, is being celebrated for his heroic actions.

Hridesh Tiwari confronted and chased off two masked men who were armed with an imitation gun and a stick.

Tiwari was beginning his shift alone at the Premier Stores on Halesworth Crescent in Holmewood when the intruders entered through the back entrance. Upon seeing one man brandishing a stick and another with an imitation gun, they demanded money by shouting, “Give us the money.”

The incident occurred around 7:30 am on 31 January 2023, with a man being jailed in connection with it last month.

Tiwari said: “I wasn’t scared, but because I work here, everything is my responsibility.

“It wasn’t until they were saying I’m going to shoot you that I was scared.

“They asked for the money and the man with the stick came running towards me, I got the stick off of him and chased them out of the shop.”

According to reports, Tiwari, who resides in Holme Wood, has been in Bradford for a little over a year now, having moved to the UK from Nepal for his studies. Despite the potential danger he faced, he regarded his actions as “brave” and expressed pride in how he was able to conquer his fear.

He said: “I’m generally a brave person. I have helped a lot of people from different situations.

“When I told my parents, they were really proud of me and we were really happy about what I did.”
After chasing the men away, Tiwari quickly informed his boss about what had happened, who then reported the incident to the West Yorkshire Police. This responsible and quick action helped initiate the necessary law enforcement response to the situation.

Al Patel, owner of the Halesworth Crescent store, said: “He was obviously really brave and didn’t scare at all.

“He handled the situation really well.

“We’re very proud because he stopped it, and it could have been a lot worse.”

Patel characterised Tiwari as an “honest, hardworking and brave” employee.

Tiwari added: “I thought if they can do this today or this once, then they’ll try again.

“I literally gave them a run for the money.”