Marlyand residents were left shocked after seeing what they believe to be antisemitic graffiti on a cashpoint.

The graffiti was seen on a cash machine at the Tesco in Leytonstone Road last week.

The spotter, who is Jewish and lives in Maryland, reported it to the Tesco store manager but was told nothing could be done, so reported it to the head of Maryland Community Group through a private message on Facebook.

“It’s a bit bizarre,” a group spokesman said.

“He was a bit perplexed as to why this happened. He wasn’t offended, just confused about the whole thing.”

The group, which started three years ago, has more than 600 members on its Facebook page. It’s used as a platform for members of the community to discuss what’s happening in Maryland, and it does work with the council, police and local arts groups, as well as holding meetings every two months.

“The person who spotted it messaged me privately, so was obviously sensitive about the whole thing,” the group spokesman said.

“The great thing about the group is everyone is free to post on there, but it’s in a very constructive, helpful way – we’re not there to just criticise the council.”

After seeing the pictures of the grafitti on Twitter, Newham’s mayor, Rokhsana Fiaz, promised to have officers look into it.

“I went past it a couple of days after and it was still there, so nothing had happened from Tesco about it,” the spokesman said.

“I’ve never seen anything like this in Maryland before. It’s one of those things that once you’ve seen it, you can’t un-see it.

“You can come up with so many connotations. What do the three dots represent?”

A few days after the graffiti was reported, Ms Fiaz posted an update on social media to say officers had removed it.

On Twitter, she wrote: “Newham London officers have removed the offending antisemitic graffiti today. Thanks once again for letting us know and please pass on our thanks to the Maryland Community members for being vigilant against hate.”

A Tesco Bank spokesman said: “We take these matters extremely seriously and apologise to any customer who was offended by the graffiti on the ATM at our Tesco Express store on Leytonstone Road.

“We have reported the incident to the Police and removed the graffiti.”