A grandmother was mugged for her wallet outside a supermarket – but police took more than six hours to get to her.

The 62-year-old was withdrawing cash from the machine in Tesco, Shenley Road, Borehamwood, on Sunday at 12pm when two men snatched her purse from her hands and pushed her to the ground.

As they fled, the victim immediately alerted a security guard, who called the police and helped to calm her down.

But even though the police station is less than a minutes’ walk from Tesco, officers said they were “too busy” to attend.

Police instead told her to go home, but did telephone her twice during the afternoon to make sure she was safe and to arrange a time to meet with her.

The woman later discovered the thieves had taken £200 from her bank account minutes after the mugging - using the Barclays cash point next to the police station.

Her son-in-law, who asked not to be named, said: “It’s a disgrace and I think our local police force should be ashamed for leaving a scared, vulnerable woman alone like that. I am disgusted they didn’t see this as a priority.

“Six hours is unacceptable. They brag on about how they want to cut out crime but when it actually happens, they don’t rush to the scene.

“What do I pay my council tax for, for these shoddy response times? It makes you realise why people are losing their faith in the police force.”

The woman, a part-time cleaner, claims she has received no victim support, and is now too afraid to go out alone.

Her son-in-law added: “She’s now wary of everyone behind her. The police should have turned up straight away.

“What’s worse is that so many people near Tesco saw the attack and not one person stopped to help her get up or anything.

“Everything about what happened is disgusting.”

After the incident, police visited Tesco to make inquiries and request CCTV footage of what happened.

In a statement, Herts Police said: “Police were called at around 12.20pm on February 21st to reports a woman in her 60s had her card removed from the cash point at Tesco in Shenley Road as she was using the machine.

“Officers attended the store that afternoon to begin CCTV inquiries and the victim was spoken with over the phone to confirm that she was safe and to arrange a time to meet with her.

“A further call was made to the victim to ensure her cards had been cancelled before officers subsequently attended to speak with her at around 6.30pm.

“The matter is being treated as a theft and investigations are currently ongoing.”