A MOTORIST was rammed off a quiet country road, then slashed across the face by a machetewielding gang in a late-night attack.

Residents were woken by the bloodied victim pounding on their door, screaming his attackers were coming back to “slice him up and finish him off”.

When they tried to switch on their lights, they found the crash had taken out the power supply and they had been plunged into darkness.

The victim, believed to be aged 24 and from Brentwood, was taken to Basildon Hospital following the attack in Tye Common Road, Little Burstead, at about 11pm on Tuesday.

He has since been transferred to Cambridge’s Addenbrooke’s Hospital with serious head and leg injuries.

He suffered cuts to his head, body and arms and is in a serious but stable condition.

Police cordoned off the scene and are still hunting the attackers.

The victim and his passenger were travelling along Tye Common Road in a Renault Kangoo when theywere rammed off the road by a 4x4.

Witnesses reported seeing attackers smash the windscreen of the car with a machete before pulling the driver from the car and slashing him across the face and body. The driver and his passenger, who was not injured, managed to get away and the attackers fled the scene.

A resident said: “I was just putting my baby to bed when I heard this huge banging on the front door and shouting.

“I went to the door and through the glass saw a bloodied man slumped against it.

“He was screaming for me to let him in and said the people were going to come back and finish him off.

“It was pitch black, I didn’t know what was going on and I had my baby, so I just grabbed the phone and dialled 999.

“The next thing was I heard another voice in the darkness. I didn’t know if it was the attackers come to slice him up and finish him off, but it turned out to be his friend who had been in the car with him.”

The men stumbled back down the road towards Billericay to a neighbouring property.

The owner of this house, who didn’t want to be named, said: “The passenger was not hurt, but was screaming because, at first, he thought the gang had taken his friend to finish him off.

“Then he heard him at our neighbours and went to him and brought him back here, where we wrapped towels around his wounds and tried to keep him awake.

“It was scary, because the crash took out the electricity supply. It was dark and we did not know if the men were going to come back.

“The ambulance and air ambulance came and they cordoned off the road, but we didn’t sleep last night. It was frightening.”

Yesterday morning neighbours were left still trying to clean blood from their properties.

Anyone with information can call officers at Basildon CID on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111.