THIEVES knocked down a security guard and stole a cashbox he was delivering to a bank.

Police have revealed few details about the incident, which took place outside the Lloyds TSB at about 1.30pm yesterday as a Group 4 Securicor van turned up at the Cricklade Road branch to make a cash delivery.

The driver was pushed to the ground by two men who demanded he hand over the cashbox.

They snatched the container and then ran off north towards Pinehurst and Penhill.

It is not clear if the men, who were black, were armed.

Geoff Maslin, who runs a cooker and kitchen appliance store next to the bank, said: "I heard some shouting just outside. I went to the window and saw one of the chaps from the security van lying on the ground, and a man running off down the road."

Another eyewitness, who asked not to be named, said: "The first man who ran up to the delivery man was hitting him and shouting at him to drop the box.

"Another guy joined in and started pulling at the box. They both ran off with it. A lot of people were around and looked like they wanted to intervene, but you never know whether these people might have a knife.

"The delivery man looked like he had bloodied hands and they were all scraped."

The eyewitness said the first man was about 6ft 2in, and was wearing a grey hoodie and jeans. The second attacker was slightly shorter.

The crime is the third of its kind to have taken place in Cricklade Road in the last three months. Two similar robberies took place at the HSBC bank in the space of a week in December.

Two men have been since arrested for the second of those.

HSBC has since closed its Gorse Hill branch, although the company said it had moved its Gorse Hill customers to Canal Walk in the town centre for business reasons, not because of the robberies.

Jugdish Patel, postmaster at Gorse Hill Post Office in Cricklade Road, said: "It is not a good situation, it puts people off coming here, and as a postmaster you do wonder whether the Post Office will be next."

A spokesman for Group 4 Securicor (G4S) said: "We can confirm that one of our vehicles was involved in a minor incident at 1.24 pm in Cricklade Road, Swindon.

"Neither of our couriers was injured. However, G4S Cash Services (UK) is committed to maintaining the safety of its staff and the general public."

A Lloyds TSB spokeswoman said the branch was shut from 1.30pm until 3.30pm as police carried out inquiries.