A GRANDFATHER suffered a mild heart attack and a bloody nose after being punched by an irate cyclist on a country lane in North Yorkshire.

Colin Beckwith, 68, was driving with his wife Doreen from their home in Morton-on-Swale to visit family in Brompton, near Northallerton, on Saturday morning.

The car was travelling behind a group of cyclists while navigating a particularly bendy road, but when an opportunity arose to overtake, Mr Beckwith sounded his horn to make the cyclists aware of him before starting to move out.

Mrs Beckwith said before her husband, who has suffered three heart attacks in the past, could move around the cyclists, one threw down his bike and approached the car.

She said: “There was a group of about five or six cyclists in front of us and we couldn’t overtake safely for quite a while because they took over the width of our lane.

“Colin sounded his horn to let them know he was there, but when one came over to us he wound down his window and the man just punched him straight in the nose.

“It all happened so fast and it was such a shock. He was covered in blood, but we drove on to a lay-by where we called the police and an ambulance.”

Mr Beckwith has spent the last four days in James Cook Hospital in Middlesbrough because of his heart problems.

Mrs Beckwith said: “The language being used towards us was terrible. We have been told by the police that the man has apologised, but we have not had an apology.

“We were willing to wait behind the cyclists until it was safe to pass and we were not going fast.”

A spokesman from North Yorkshire Police confirmed a 53-year-old man had been arrested and cautioned on Saturday, June 7, at 10.35am.