A 65-year-old road rage victim has described how he hung on to a driver’s door for “grim death” before the car finally hit a speed hump and threw him off.

Wagon driver Ian Main clung on for about 100 metres in yesterday’s terrifying ordeal before being left lying in the road with broken bones.

Police are investigating his claims that he was deliberately mown down after confronting an angry driver who wanted to get past the Thomas Crompton heavy haulage lorry he was trying to reverse through a narrow entrance just off Dawnay Road, Little Horton.

Mr Main, who should have retired in February after 42 years lorry driving but had stayed on to help out, said he had gone up to the driver of the dark-coloured Ford Focus because he could hear the man “ranting and raving like a lunatic”.

He said: “I asked him what the problem was and he said it was me. He wanted to get round the other side of the wagon to where he lived. I told him he could drive round another way if he couldn’t wait but that made him even more mad and he said he was going to give me a leathering and jumped out.”

Mr Main said the furious driver then failed to put on the handbrake and his car rolled into the wagon.

He said: “He ran to it, jumped back in and rammed it into reverse right at me. He still had the driver’s door open and it trapped me. I put my arms out to defend myself and caught hold of it but then he slammed it into gear and drove off. I was hanging on for grim death.

“I don’t know what was going on in my mind except that I was in big trouble. I don’t know why I didn’t let go but then the car hit a road hump and it threw me off. I was just lying there, I couldn’t move.”

Mr Main was taken to Bradford Royal Infirmary where he was treated for a broken shoulder bone, two broken ribs and bruising. He was allowed home later.

Thomas Crompton, who runs the firm of the same name, said the alleged assault happened at about 7.45am and that police who had sealed off Dawnay Road at its junction with Tamar Street at the spot where Mr Main fell from the car, were now looking at CCTV.

Neighbours who watched officers guarding the scene said they had only heard rumours about what happened.

But Mr Crompton said he was shocked when told about the incident and described Mr Main, from Illingworth, as a “very nice, pleasant guy” who was “a very experienced driver” and regarded as a professional behind the wheel.

The company has been excavating a field at the back of Dawnay Road for Bradford Council and the lorry was delivering machinery to the site when the incident happened.

Police said they were treating the incident as an assault.

Witnesses, who saw the collision or the Ford Focus which was driven by an Asian man, are asked to call police on 101 or Crimestoppers, in confidence, on 0800 555 111.