An NHS volunteer who drove an ambulance to Ukraine says he was spat on outside a McDonald's for having the country's flags on his car.

Brian Grove, 60, was in his Nissan Micra at the fast-food take-away when he says a "burly man" with an Eastern European accent "took exception" to the stickers.

He said: "He attempted to attack me. Luckily, I was still in the car and able to lock it in time. So he just spat on me through the gap at the top of the window while yelling a list of expletives all with the word Ukraine."

Mr Grove, who has been on six mercy missions to Ukraine since it was invaded by Russia, has appealed for witnesses or dashcam footage of the incident which happened in Sittingbourne on Sunday afternoon.

He said: "Sadly, it wasn't caught on any of McDonald's security cameras."

Mr Grove from Murston added: "I assume this gentleman was a Russian supporter and clearly prepared to use racially motivated violence here in Sittingbourne. But I must stress not all Russians are like this. In fact, the person who first asked me to help the Ukrainians was a Russian girl."

He said he had reversed into a slot but ended quite near to the next car. Both drivers got out to check but then the other motorist spotted Mr Grove's stickers and started hurling abuse.

Mr Grove said: "He was totally distraught and started waving his fist in the air. I felt threatened until I had made sure all the doors were locked. To be honest, when you have seen the horrors going on in Ukraine and had to dodge bandits with automatic weapons, one man waving his fist isn't that bad."

He added that it wasn't the first anti-Ukrainian incident he had been involved in. "A few weeks ago, another man tried to rip a Ukrainian flag from the car I was driving at the time," he said.

Mr Grove, a law graduate now retired on medical grounds, is a dedicated volunteer who has helped serve meals at Faversham's Cottage Hospital and has been helping at Covid-19 vaccination centres across Kent.

In April, he became a governor for the Kent Community Health NHS Trust, representing Swale but has since stepped down because of his increased commitments to Ukraine.

On his first trip to Ukraine he helped deliver an ambulance and supplies as part of a convoy.

He said at the time: “The sight of thousands of mostly young women with small children, queueing for hours in the bitterly cold evening, as the many tents simply could not meet the need, is something I would prefer to un-see.

“The sound of the children crying with the cold as their mothers tried to shield them and helpers tried to help with food, hot drinks and blankets, is something which will live with me for a long time.”

Mr Grove also worked as an animal rescuer in Argentina from 2003 to 2012.