A GREAT-GRANDFATHER was left ‘battered and bruised’ when a teenage cyclist he reprimanded for riding on the pavement threw his bike at him.

Brian Smith said he was attacked when he told the youth to use the road instead.

The 78-year-old, who was making his way to Audley Working Men’s Club, in Blackburn, said he tried to dive out of the way of the bike, which came hurtling towards him.

Retired mill worker Mr Smith, of Pringle Street, said he was in a lot of pain as a result of the early afternoon assault.

He said: “I am feeling a bit rough. I was already bad at walking, but now I am having trouble with my knee.

“The lad came behind me on the bike and I told him to get off the pavement.

“He did not take any notice and I kept on going.

“I crossed over at the lights and was walking along towards the club and he stayed on his bike watching where I was going.

“He started crossing over the road and I asked him if he knew where he was going.

“Then he threw the bike at me.

“I dived, but I could not get out of the way because the bike was in front of me.

“I finished up on the pavement and hitting the wall with my face.

“I was in a state of shock and was bleeding badly.”

Mr Smith said he was unsure if he had lost consciousness, but could not remember where he was in the moments after he fell to the ground.

Two men passing in a van helped the pensioner, who is waiting to have an operation to remove cataracts from his eyes, get to his feet and took him to the Audley Range club, where he met his son.

The father-of-five was then taken to the Royal Blackburn Hospital for treatment and will have to visit the fracture clinic next week to see if he has broken any bones.

Mr Smith’s wife Jean said the injuries were stopping her husband doing the things he enjoyed.

She said: “It makes me angry. It is stopping him going out.

“He was a mess when he came in and I got a shock. His lip was so swollen that it was touching his nose. It was terrible.”

Mr Smith said the assault was ‘typical of the youth of today’.

He said: “My wife never wants me to say anything to people when you see them doing something wrong.

“She says I am getting on a bit and it is not up to me to tell them. But I cannot help it.

“What he did was arrogant. I do not like being messed around, not at my age.”

Police are appealing for anybody who may have witnessed the attack, which happened at around 1.15pm on Thursday (Sept 26), to come forward.

The man on the bike was described as being Asian, around 6ft tall and of a thin build.

He was in his late teens and it is possible he may have had a moustache.

Det Insp Nikki Bithell, from Lancashire Police’s eastern division CID, said: “Mr Smith was left battered and bruised and so I would appeal for anybody who saw this attack or has any information about it to come forward.”

Anybody with information should call police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.