Chris Knight was attacked at the Stoke Tennis Court carpark on Thursday night.

A Nelson man says he was attacked by up to a dozen young people with a "wolf pack mentality" when he confronted them about their dangerous driving.

Chris Knight, 54, said he felt "anger, shock and fear" when the group attempted to punch and kick him in the Stoke Tennis Club car park on Thursday night.

Police are investigating the incident.

MARION VAN DIJK/Fairfax NZ Chris Knight believes his car will cost thousands of dollars to repair after being punched and kicked by a gang of youths on Thursday.

Knight said he was driving home on Main Rd, Stoke, about 8:30pm when he saw a car rapidly approaching behind him.

He said the car would have been speeding as he was "doing exactly the speed limit".

"The approaching car didn't overtake me on my right, it undercut me on the my left hand side narrowly missing running up the footpath and also narrowly missing a young boy who was about to push his bike across the main road."

Knight followed the car to the Stoke Tennis Club on the corner of Main Rd and Songer St so he could get the registration number and report it to police.

He pulled into the car park where the speeding car had stopped. Both he and the group of young people got out of their cars.

"I told the driver what I had just seen and that he needed to return to see if the boy and his bike were OK.

"All they could see was someone confronting them and they all were admitting to nothing."

Another car arrived and the occupants joined the mob.

He said the driver of the speeding car tried to fight him and "kept taking wild air swings while I held him at safe arms length by the shoulder".

"That's when his support team showed solidarity in numbers and joined in with him in throwing more air swings at my head," he said.

"All I could sense was a wolf pack mentality that needed to take the first bite."

He said a young woman came "flying in for a kick aimed at me" but she missed and landed on her back on the concrete, injuring herself.

Knight said none of the punches or kicks connected, but he was worried about what would happen if the rest of the group joined in.

"I visualised myself on the ground and knew that bad things would be happening to my head."

He was able to get back into his car and as he drove away, some of the "young thugs" punched and kicked his car, putting dents in several panels that he suspects will cost thousands of dollars to repair.



Knight reported the incident and the speeding driver's registration number to Nelson police.

A Nelson man was also assaulted and had his keys taken off him in a suspected road rage incident in Gardner Valley Rd, south of Motueka, last Thursday.

Anyone with information on either incident can contact Nelson police on 03 546 3840.