A man has been charged with robbery in Monday's holdup of the BP service station at 2116 Willis Road, Chesterfield County police said yesterday.

The holdup, police said, didn't quite go as planned.

A man police say is Shannon D. Martin, 31, entered about 10:20 p.m. and approached the clerk as if to make a purchase.

But when she opened the cash register, the man pulled a knife and demanded money. As he reached into the register to help himself to some cash, the clerk slammed his hand in the drawer and sprayed him with Mace, police said.

With eyes burning and his hand throbbing in pain, the robber still managed to flee with some money, police said. Martin was arrested on Wednesday.

Martin, of the 7100 block of Wentworth St., was being held without bond in the Chesterfield Jail pending a hearing July 14 in Chesterfield General District Court. -- Mark Bowes