Bank customers fled in fear when three assailants tried to assault a teller in the centre of Hamilton.

The member of staff at Capital G's branch in Reid Street was reportedly hit a number of times by a woman and two young men who came in to the bank around 11.40 a.m. yesterday.

Last night Capital G managing director James Gibbons said he had been made aware of the incident but had not yet reviewed a CCTV recording of what had taken place.

But he said he understood the incident stemmed from a personal matter between the attackers and the bank worker and was not connected with the bank's business.

"Understandably there were a lot of people who were in the bank at the time who were scared. From what I have learned the staff acted well in the circumstances," said Mr. Gibbons.

"I gather it was a personal matter between the teller and these people. Sadly, it is another incident of violence in Bermuda where people are taking matters into their own hands. These people were after the teller and it scared a lot of other people."

The attackers, who according to unconfirmed reports used a stick and motorcycle helmets to attack the teller, are believed to have also caused damage to a cash machine during the incident.

Bank staff eventually escorted the assailants from the premises. Responding to an activated panic alarm at the bank, Police arrived shortly afterwards but no arrests have been made regarding the incident.

Police have issued an appeal for witnesses to contact them with information to help their investigation and in a statement said the motive for the attack was unclear, but it was not an attempted robbery.

Mr. Gibbons said the branch remained open and he stressed the incident was not related to the bank itself but was a personal matter that unfortunately was dealt with on the bank's premises. The teller who was attacked was given the remainder of yesterday off from work.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact the Hamilton Criminal Investigation Unit on 295-0011.