YOUNG Nathan Brigham was out cycling with his friends when a heartless hit-and-run driver ran into him on the wrong side of the road - injuring his leg and leaving him shaking with fear.

The 12-year-old was cycling along Ouseburn Avenue, in Acomb, York, with friends when the incident happened.

He went around a sharp bend on the road, travelling towards Beckfield Lane, only to be met by a silver Ford Focus coming the other way round the bend - on the right-hand side of the road.

"I came round the corner, and there was this car coming towards me," Nathan said.

"I pulled my brakes, because I thought it was going to hit me. The car clipped my leg and caused some bad bruising.

"The driver got out of the car and shouted at me: What are you doing? You could have smashed my window with that'."

Nathan had been carrying a plastic devil horn, as it was Hallowe'en, but had not touched the car with it.

The youngster said: "He was angry and he checked his window to see if there were any marks, but he never asked me how I was. He just got in the car and drove off."

The Lowfield School pupil was left shaking after the incident, and his leg was so badly hurt he could not put weight on it. His friends took him home and his dad, Michael, took him to York Hospital.

He was X-rayed and told there was bad bruising to his upper leg and knee.

Michael, 40, said: "I was at home, and I got a call from the mother of one of Nathan's friends. She told me he'd been in an accident and a car had hit him. All sorts of things go racing through your head.

"I know that if I'd had an accident, I would have tried to find the lad's parents and taken him home.

"It was selfish that this driver didn't think about what he'd done and was only concerned about his car."

Lindsey Bycroft, 21, who lives in Ouseburn Avenue, was taking her children trick or treating when the accident happened.

"We were knocking at a door and I heard a bang. I turned around and this young lad was shaking," she said.

"The man, who looked about 60 or 70, got out and shouted at the lad. I said didn't he think he should call his parents?', but he just swore and drove off.

"The little lad was really heartbroken. The man had no interest in him whatsoever."

Nathan's mum, Jeanette, 40, said: "It was a bad Hallowe'en all in all. At 4.10pm, Nathan had had a minor operation on his ear to remove a cyst, then at 5pm I found out my step-dad had died, and then about 6pm, Nathan was hit by this car."