An 81-year-old man says he was punched in the face by a young man in a road rage attack on the Kapiti Coast.
The Waikato man, who didn't want to be named for fear of retribution, says he wants to thank two Otaki school teachers who ran to help him after he was bashed last Wednesday morning.
The grandfather said he and his partner had spent the previous night in a motel in Otaki.
However, they found it noisy and went to find another on a quieter stretch of road.
As they looked for one on Tasman Rd, the man said he was travelling no faster than 10km/h on the left side of the road when a car pulled up behind him.
"He tooted his horn, so I tooted back.
"He then pulled around in front of me and blocked the road and started abusing me."
The former truck driver admits there was colourful language between the two.
"I said, 'I don't want to talk to you, just get in your car and go away'. And he kept going and then he bashed me through the window.
"There was blood everywhere, split all my gums from my false teeth."
He said he was hit so hard that he was partly thrown onto his partner's lap. He and his partner were in shock.
Ther man lifted his foot off the brake after being punched, and his car slowly rolled forward into the back of his attacker's car.
He said two teachers missed the punch "by about 2 seconds" as they were walking up the road, but they saw him covered in blood.
"I was just thinking, 'What am I going to do' and the people who were there, I just really want to thank them, they were teachers from Otaki school.
"They were bloody marvellous. I didn't ring the police, they rung the police for me."
His attacker, who also had another person in the car, took off.
Fortunately one of the teachers took a photo of the man's red Mitsubishi Evo.
He said the police told him the other man had laid a complaint about him; claiming the 81-year-old had pulled him into the window and scratched his neck.
"But I hadn't even touched him, never laid a finger on him."
The man's partner had to drive the couple home to the Waikato.
He went to a medical centre when the couple got home.
In all his years of driving trucks, it was the first time he'd ever been involved, or even seen, road rage.
"But I can move my jaw now, so at least I can have a pie."
He said the swelling in his face had gone down considerably since last week.
The man's family were angry about the attack.
"You couldn't print what my son said," the victim said.
The attack also angered people after it was posted on social media.
"The Bloudy [sic] cowards picking on an old man. Respect your elders," said one.
Another said: "Oh no that's beyond horrendous. I hope the offender was caught and locked up!"
Another said: "If someone is able to do something like this, what else are they capable of?! Hope the prick gets caught and dealt to. To the poor chap - I hope you don't lose your faith in people and I hope you have a great Christmas (difficult as it may be)."
The man said he wasn't going to let the attack upset his Christmas and was looking forward to a quiet, relaxing day tomorrow.
A police spokesperson said they were investigating.
