A REVELLER had a night to forget after he had part of his ear bitten off during a fight in a seaside town.

James Hore

A REVELLER had a night to forget after he had part of his ear bitten off during a fight in a seaside town.

The Colchester man was out in Clacton when he became involved in a large “scrap” involving 11 people near to the West Beach.

The fight broke out amongst a group of men and one woman.

Two of the men - who were both from Colchester - carried on fighting while the others watched the incident, near to the town's pier.

Tendring District Council's beach patrol went to the aid of a man after he had part of his ear bitten off.

Billy Freeman spotted the incident and called for help from the rest of his team who were getting ready to close up their office.

By the time they got to the group, one of the men was running off and seafront warden, Jon Shipman, gave chase - although he lost the man in the town.

Efforts were made to help the injured man and an ambulance and police were called but as he came out of shock he became abusive and the paramedic was unable to treat him.

Beth White, of the beach patrol, said: “He had half his ear bitten off and there was a lot of blood. He was initially in shock and it appeared that he had been drinking.

“The team had managed to bandage up his ear and head and tried to reassure him throughout.

“The injured man was advised to go to Clacton Hospital for further treatment but whether he did so or not, we don't know. It was a very nasty injury.”

Seafront manager, Tim Sutton, said that some of the team had also been involved in two sea rescues in the past week.

“This just goes to show the variety of incidents that they have to deal with throughout the summer,” he said. “Once again they handled the incident in a very professional manner and helped the injured man as much as they could.”

An Essex Police spokeswoman said: “We were called by the ambulance service just after 5.35pm on Friday to reports of a disturbance near to the pier at Clacton.

“We attended and there was a man who had sustained an injury but did not want to report any offences.”