THIEVES used gas canisters as bombs to blow up a cash machine in Yate in a middle-of-the-night raid.

Residents in Station Road were woken by the huge bang at 3.30am yesterday, Wednesday, after gas canisters were used to break open the cashpoint outside a Tesco Express store.

The shop was ripped apart in the attack and the road had to be closed off as forensics teams tried to gather evidence from the rubble and debris strewn across the pavement.

Cash ended up scattered across the pavement, but it is not yet clear how much the thieves escaped with.

This latest attack follows gas canisters being used to blow up cashpoints at the Natwest bank and Co-op in Winterbourne on Thursday last week – with both incidents also taking place at 3.30am.

Police believe the three raids may have been carried out by the same culprits.

Tesco staff who turned up for work yesterday morning were left dumbfounded by the amount of damage caused and passers-by stopped to take photographs of the scene.

Margaret Gardner, who lives a few doors away, said she heard a ‘huge bang’ which sounded like a firework.

“It was like one of those exploding bomb fireworks,” she said. “It was huge.

“I actually suspected it was something like this after hearing about similar attacks on two cash machines in Winterbourne last week.

“I came outside and I did see a car drive off with a light in the back but could not get any details.”

She added: “We have lived here 30 years and I have never known anything like this – it is not something you want to be hearing outside your door.

“There is a hell of a lot of damage.”

Stacie Orban said she initially thought it was gun fire or a car crash.

“I heard what sounded like a gunshot or car crash at 3.30am followed by screeching tyres and what I thought to be a car alarm,” she said.

“The explosion managed to break a child’s window on the house across the road from the shop.”

A spokesman for Tesco said the store would be closed for several days.

“Unfortunately, due to damage caused by the blast, the store is temporarily closed until further notice,” he said.

“We’re really sorry for the inconvenience this causes our customers but would suggest shopping at our nearby Yate Brimsham Park Express or Extra stores.

“We are co-operating fully with the police in their investigation.”

The road, which leads to Yate Train Station, is also home to Yate Parish Hall, Yate Community Centre, several estate agents and businesses and Gateway Revival Church.

Church leader David Nicholas told the Gazette: “We were all ok, we did survive and our building is fine.

“It runs close to Tesco at the back so we wanted to check this morning that it hadn’t been damaged.

“I heard about the Winterbourne cash machines last week but the damage there wasn’t as bad as this. This is horrendous.”

The almost identical raids in Winterbourne took place at the Natwest bank in the High Street and the Co-op in Dragon Road last Thursday at 3.30am.

Both machines were cordoned off and thieves got away with cash.

These attacks follow a spate of similar thefts from cash machines around Bristol over the past few months.

Police said they were keeping an "open mind" about whether the attacks were linked.

A spokesman for Avon and Somerset Constabulary said: “For now we are keeping an open mind about all of these incidents.

“The amount of damage caused in Yate was not that different to the damage caused to a post office in Long Ashton or the Co-op in Winterbourne.”

He said crime scene investigators had been at the scene in Yate all day yesterday gathering evidence and officers were carrying out house-to-house enquiries and reviewing CCTV.

Anyone with any information can call police on 101 quoting reference 5216101529.