A concerned parent whose young son was reportedly held against his will for 45 minutes by threatening knifemen has spoken to News Shopper about the family’s experience.

The dad made contact after police published CCTV footage yesterday of two suspects who may have been involved.

Video: Suspects walk through The Glades after knife point robbery

His son, 13, along with his friend who is the same age, were approached in The Glades on April 6 by two youths.

They claimed to not know where the bus stop was to take them home and asked for help.

Things took a sinister turn when the boys were forced to sit on different benches in Queens Gardens outside the shopping centre.

"They took their phones, bank cards and AirPods," the dad said. "They made threats of being stabbed and put in hospital."

At one point a stranger came over to ask if they were ok, but as they approached the muggers warned that they would be knifed if they didn’t comply.

The dad said: "The boys said everything was ok out of fear.

"Once they got the bank card and phone codes, they walked away calmly chatting to each other and left the kids on the benches in bits.

"They were psychologically terrorised into revealing everything."

It was getting late in the evening and the dad had tried calling his son.

Over and hour later the phoneless boys arrived at one of the homes in Green Street Green and "burst into tears".

The dad, who didn’t want his family to be identified, said the robbery was "disgusting" but said his son’s response has been "remarkable".

His son has opened up to his older brother about the events and has been "very cool about it for someone so young".

Three days after the incident he told his dad the boys would grow up to have "s*** lives" and it was a path he didn't want to follow.

Police releasing CCTV footage was a relief to the dad, who questioned how seriously authorities are taking knife crime.

He said: "I understand police have an amazing and busy job and there are bigger fish to fry than two boys losing phones.

"But for young lads to be doing this to younger lads in broad daylight in a busy place, I find it really worrying."

He added: "If something worse happened and someone was physically attacked as well as emotionally then they would have to find the resources.

"Everything is after the event rather than nipping something in the bud.

"It’s been a month and they are still out there, presumably doing the same thing and presumably still with knives.

"The next family might not quite be as lucky. With the huge press coverage of knife crime I find it mind blowing so little has been done in a month, given all the information they have on it."

A spokesman for Bromley police told News Shopper: "Two youths were robbed by the two suspects who had initially stopped the victims and asked them for directions at Kentish Way."

Anyone with information is asked to call police on 101 or to contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 11 with the crime reference 3307299/19.