A MOTORIST was attacked after going to the aid of a fake hit-and-run victim.

The 35-year-old driver was pulling out of the Murco service station in Hereson Road, Ramsgate, when the incident happened.

He was flagged down by a young man who pointed to his friend lying by the roadside and said he had been knocked down by a car that sped off.

He asked the driver, from Broadstairs, if he had a mobile telephone and could help. When the man got out of the car to ring the police, he was grabbed and his arms were forced up behind his back. He was then punched in the face.

Police say he struggled with his assailants who grabbed, then dropped, his telephone. During the fight he headbutted two of them. He said there were more than eight young men aged between 18 and 25 involved.

They ran off along St Andrew’s Road opposite the petrol station and into Ramsgate cemetery.

The victim, who reported the incident later that day to police, suffered a quarter inch cut above his right eye in the struggle.

Any information about the attempted robbery that happened on Friday, November 3, between 5.45am and 5.50am should be given to PC Andy Eley on 01843 222074.