the early hours of yesterday morning.

A crew member from the Royal Viking Sun cruise liner claims he was walking up Burnaby Hill towards Cedar Avenue at about 2 a.m. when he was approached by a man on a bicycle.

The attacker greeted him and struck up a conversation before suddenly demanding cash.

When the victim, a 22-year-old waiter, said he did not have any, the assailant gripped him around the neck and punched him in the face before taking his wallet.

The victim, after running away, returned to the scene later with a friend and found the wallet, although the robber had removed a quantity of US cash and a $20 Australian shilling.

In a separate incident a 20-year-old Sandys man was assaulted outside the Docksider pub on Front Street.

The complainant told Police that he was standing at the entrance of the pub waiting for a friend when a man approached him, grabbed him around the neck, pulled him outside and began punching him in the face.

Bystanders eventually managed to tear the attacker off his helpless victim who was then taken to the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital to receive treatment for a bruised nose, swollen lip and a cut above his right eye.

The attacker is described as white, about 6 feet one inch tall, heavily built and with a shaved head and goatee beard.

He was wearing a white t-shirt and long, dark coloured pants and is thought to be British.

Anyone with any information about the attack should call Hamilton Police Station on 295 0011.