Elderly man victim of hit-and-run driver

An elderly Whangarei man is fuming after a motorist hit him on a pedestrian crossing outside Whangarei Hospital and didn't stop.

Rex Smith, 81, was not seriously injured after the car clipped him and knocked him over on Wednesday.

"They should have more respect for elderly people walking across pedestrian crossings," Mr Smith said, as he nursed cuts on both hands, right elbow and right knee.

He had just visited a relative in hospital and was hit by a "dirty black car" halfway across the pedestrian crossing.

"I felt a brush across my back for a fleeting moment before my elbow got hit by the wing mirror of the car.

"It spun me down on the ground and then five or six people appeared and picked me up," Mr Smith said.

A witness yelled at the car to stop but it carried on.

Police told Mr Smith there was nothing he could do unless the driver reported the accident.

- NORTHERN ADVOCATE (WHANGAREI)