A Bristol driving instructor needed plastic surgery after he was attacked by a gang of youths, some believed to be as young as 10.

Mohammad Butt and his pupil were assaulted during a driving lesson in Southmead.

Mr Butt suffered a deep gash to his hand as he tried to defend himself.

During the attack, his car windows were smashed, leaving his 18-year-old pupil with a shard of glass in his eye.

Mr Butt underwent an operation at Frenchay Hospital and was left without the use of his hand for three days.

Now he is waiting for it to heal so he can drive and work again.

Mr Butt, a 35-year-old instructor with the British School of Motoring, was midway through the lesson on Monday December 22 when the attack happened in Lowther Road.

He said: "We had just finished a reverse parking manoeuvre when this gang of six or seven young lads came from behind the car and rode past on mountain bikes.

"Half were on the road side and half were on the pavement, and as they cycled past they kicked the wing mirrors, smashing the glass and breaking the coverings off.

"They were teenagers, but one or two of them were really quite young – about 10 years of age."

The group disappeared around a corner and Mr Butt got out to fix the mirrors.

But as they were about to drive away the gang returned, and Mr Butt got out again to confront them.

He said: "I tried to grab one of them so that I could call the police.

"One of them, the eldest, who was in his late teens, pulled the metal saddle stem out his bike.

"He lifted it over his head and swung at my head.

"My natural reaction was to put my hand up to stop it, and I got a very deep gash across my right hand.

"When I saw the blood pouring out I started to worry that if it got any worse they would attack my pupil. He was so scared he couldn't even move.

"This boy had physically assaulted me, and the others were shouting abuse, screaming 'do you want some more?'"

Mr Butt got into the car behind his pupil, but as he called the police the youth with the bar smashed the windscreen and rear passenger window, leaving him with glass in his ear and his pupil with a shard in his eye.

After the gang disappeared the emergency services arrived and the pair were taken by ambulance to Frenchay Hospital.

X-rays found Mr Butt's hand was not broken, but the following day he had a 20-minute plastic surgery operation to repair the deep two-inch laceration.

Doctors found the nerves in his hand were bruised, and he couldn't use it for three days.

He also had to cancel a Christmas trip to visit family in London as his injury left him unable to drive.

Mr Butt, who is married and has an eight-month-old baby, said: "I am angry. We didn't do anything and they did a considerable amount of damage.

"It would have been much worse if they had hit me on the head, and I was lucky I got my hand up in time.

"I don't know how long I am going to be off work, but as I am self-employed I am losing money.

"My other concern is that the area where this happened isn't very safe.

"Last year youths threw stones at my car during a lesson, and a couple of months ago someone tried to steal a sat-nav from another instructor.

"But I can't avoid going back there, as it is a specified test route from the Southmead driving test centre.

"Even if the police catch them nothing is going to happen.

"The law is not tough enough and doesn't work as a deterrent.

"If they are doing this kind of thing at this age what are they going to be like when they are older, and what are their parents doing?

"If they are not caught, the message is they can go out and do things like this and just get away with it."

Police spokeswoman Claire Stanley said: "This was a particularly nasty incident that appears to have been entirely unprovoked, and we are treating it as a high priority.

"House-to-house investigations have been carried out, and shortly after the incident a search of the area was conducted to try to track the alleged culprits down.

"No arrests have been made as yet and there was no CCTV footage but investigations are ongoing."