A 79-YEAR-OLD great-grandfather was punched in the face in an unprovoked road rage attack on Father's Day.

Royston Tippin, from Worcester, was assaulted after he responded verbally to a driver who had shouted abuse at him.

Mr Tippin said he was in his car in Ambleside Drive, Warndon at around 2.30pm on Sunday and was behind a man who was trying to back out of a space but, because two other vehicles were behind Mr Tippin, he was unable to move out of the way.

The pensioner said: “He wound his window down and shouted abuse at me, so I shouted back and then he got out of his car. I tried to wind my window up, but he just opened my car door instead and punched me in the face.

“He was a big guy. He was like a gorilla.”

Mr Tippin described his attacker as being in his late 50s or early 60s.

The punch left the pensioner with severe bruising and he said he has felt queasy since the assault.

Mr Tippin had a heart attack four years ago and this resulted in him having four stents placed in his heart.

His daughter, Claire, said: “He is almost 80 and he has a dodgy ticker anyway. I am feeling all the emotions you can think of. You can tell my dad is no spring chicken – I’m so angry that anyone could do such a thing.

“He has a haematoma under the skin. Bruising has spread from his mouth to his eyebrow – his face looks black from the bruising.

“My dad couldn’t sleep – he keeps relaying what happened.

"He had to force his eye open. My kids are shocked to see their grandad in this state. He could have broken his cheek bone or damaged his eye socket.”

Mr Tippin's son, Kevin, said the punch could have been fatal for his father.

“He could have killed my dad with that one punch," he said. "My dad looks like Rocky Balboa. His eye is massive and his face looks awful. It looks like it needs to be cut to let the blood out.

“I’m fuming. My dad is an old man. He called me when it happened as he was alone. I drove around the area for three hours trying to find this car."

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Kevin said he called the police at the time but "they just told me to take him to hospital and come back a day later to report what happened”.

The attack happened on Father’s Day (Sunday June 16) in Ambleside Drive, near to the Co-op in Warndon Villages.

Claire, 34, had to take yesterday (Monday) off work to look after her dad and report the attack at Worcester police station.

PC Debbie Threadgold said yesterday: “West Mercia Police is committed to providing a high-quality level of service to everyone within our communities.

"A thorough investigation is currently underway in relation to the assault that took place yesterday (Sunday 16 June), and a number of enquiries are ongoing.

"We would like to reassure Mr Tippin and the community that we take all incidents of this nature extremely seriously, and we are looking into his concerns and the circumstances surrounding them.

"We would like to wish Mr Tippin a full recovery.

“If anyone witnessed an assault on Ambleside Drive, Worcester at around 2.30pm on Sunday June 16, please call West Mercia Police on 101 quoting incident reference 440s of 17 June 2019. Alternatively, information can be given to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or via their website.”

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