A POST Office was due to reopen today after an attempted raid by a man wielding a hammer.

A spokeswoman for the Post Office confirmed that the Beckfield Lane branch was expected to reopen at 1pm today once the damage caused during the raid had been fixed.

A York Police spokesman said staff raised the alarm at 10.28am yesterday.

"The man used a hammer to try and smash the teller's window, failed and made off. Nothing was stolen and no one was injured. But it was obviously a frightening experience for staff," he said.

Within minutes several police officers had arrived and carried out a search of the scene before arresting a 26-year-old man from Acomb at 10.47am on suspicion of attempted robbery.

He has since been released on bail.

Kevin Lofthouse, who was doing work on the Golden City Chinese Take-Away next door, witnessed the police activity, but like many onlookers was unaware of what had happened.

"I had just come back from another job when I saw police at the bottom of Beckfield Lane. They shot past me and were all outside the Post Office. Police with dogs went down the passageway behind the Post Office."

Updated: 09:31 Thursday, January 05, 2006