A MOTORIST has described the bizarre – and painful – moment when a flying frozen sausage hit him in the face, breaking his nose.BT sales manager John Hatfield was driving home from work when the ice-cold banger hurtled through his open window and smacked him full on the nose on Monday afternoon.

A MOTORIST has described the bizarre - and painful - moment when a flying frozen sausage hit him in the face, breaking his nose.

BT sales manager John Hatfield was driving home from work when the ice-cold banger hurtled through his open window and smacked him full on the nose on Monday afternoon.

The startled 46-year-old, from South Woodham Ferrers, pulled over safely despite searing pain and heavy bleeding. Passers-by rushed to help.

He said yesterday: "I had stopped off at a cashpoint in the town centre, and was back in traffic with my window down.

"I slowed down to let another car through and suddenly, as I had just gone past a junction, I felt a sharp blow to my face.

"I didn't see anything except stars. I stepped on the brakes and by the time I got out of the car I was already bleeding quite heavily."

The bizarre incident happened at the junction of Inchbonnie Road and Broughton Road in South Woodham Ferrers at about 4.30pm.

"I have no idea where it came from. Perhaps another car, or from someone at the side of the road, or from one of the gardens backing onto the pavement. I have to say it was a fantastic shot."

Mr Hatfield added it was only when a member of the public looked in his car and asked if he was planning a barbecue that he realised something peculiar had happened.

"The sausage was sitting in the footwell, and there were bits of it on the steering wheel and the windscreen."

He added although he didn't feel particularly angry with the sausage hurler, there was a serious safety message to get across.

"I can see the funny side of it. But although there was a fair degree of mirth it could have done me much more damage.

"I could have hit another car or even mounted the pavement and hit a pedestrian. It really isn't a good idea to throw things at moving vehicles."

He said after he had regained his composure the offending foodstuff had been thrown into a bin.

"When I got home my six-year-old daughter Nicola asked where it was. She said she would have had it for her tea. She was full of sympathy," Mr Hatfield laughed.

Essex Ambulance Service paramedic, Dave Hilton, said: "His nose was undoubtedly fractured and he had lost quite a lot of blood from the resultant bleed.

"After we examined his nose and cleaned up his face, he decided not to go to hospital but has been left with a very painful and swollen nose.

"I feel very sorry for him - it must have been an incredibly lucky or unlucky shot to get the sausage through a moving car window."

An Essex Police spokesman said the force was investigating what they believed was a missile which had been thrown from a passing car.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Pc Scott Smith at South Woodham Ferrers police on 01245 320333.