AN OFF-duty doorman tackled a man with a hammer who was terrorising families outside a supermarket.

Philip Clayton took the attacker to the ground after seeing the man pull a claw hammer from his waistband and swing it at another person.

The 49-year-old was with his wife Lilian walking towards Morrisons in Breightmet at about 2pm today when they saw two men fighting outside the doors.

Children were crying and other shoppers were shouting.

When one man grabbed the hammer and began to swing it at the other person, Mr Clayton jumped in to stop the fight.

After he pulled the man to the ground, Mr Clayton and another member of the public held him down for more than ten minutes until police arrived.

Mrs Clayton said she was “very proud” of her husband’s actions.

She said: “I’m always proud of him, he didn’t even think — he just helped everyone around him.”

The Bolton News:

However, Mr Clayton said he had hardly thought about what he was doing.

He said: “To be honest my instincts kicked in and I just did what I do. It just happened.

“When I first saw the fight I was wondering what was going on but they were both giving as good as they were getting.

“It’s just about the safety of the people who were there, there were kids around and my wife as well so I had to protect her.”

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Mrs Clayton said the children in the area were crying and people were shouting as the fight was going on.

Police said they were called to the scene after reports of a disturbance in the car park.

Officers arrested a 24-year-old man on suspicion of affray. He remains in custody for questioning.

No one was injured in the incident but inquiries into exactly what happened are still ongoing.

Anyone with information can call police on 101, quoting incident number 1058 of 11/12/18.

Alternatively, call the independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.