A man who was mowed down in the middle of the street and left in a pool of blood as he tried to stop a theft from his home is ‘lucky’ to be alive.

Yesterday morning, at around 6.45am a brazen trio of thieves were spotted outside a home in Hainault Road, Leytonstone, helping themselves to pallets of reclaimed bricks being used to re-build a roof.

The homeowner, 66, and his partner were preparing to leave for a weeks’ holiday in Scotland.

“He charged down the stairs, I don’t know if he heard them or had looked out of the window, so I followed him,” his partner said.

“When I got outside he had picked up a brick and he threw it through their windscreen, he was shouting at them.

“He was telling them to put the bricks back – it all happened really quickly.

“He was standing in front of the van – and they just drove forward.”

The van made off towards Fairlop Road with a smashed windscreen, spewing bricks all over the road from the back door.

The victim was left in a pool of blood.

“It all happened so fast,” his partner recalled.

“When he came round he was moaning about his leg. I was shocked because there was so much blood around his head.

“The paramedic came and said we would have to wait for the ambulance because their shift didn’t start until 7am. I couldn’t believe it. I had his blood up to my elbows.”

Passers-by and neighbours gathered in the street when they heard the commotion, including the victim’s son who was sleeping at the time.

“I just heard (dad’s partner) screaming and I jumped out of bed,” the 45-year-old said.

“My dad was lying in the middle of the road. When we got to the hospital they said, amazingly, there was no real damage to his head.

“The doctors said he was really lucky.”

Another of the man’s sons, 37, said the whole family was left in shock.

“It just makes you so angry,” he said.

“You work hard to pay for materials and people just come and take what they like.

“It’s one thing to steal bricks, but to run a man down in the street; it could have been murder.”

The trio got away with an estimated 400 bricks which were being used to re-build the roof to the house.

It is believed the van could have been at the address for over an hour because of the time it takes to move the pallets.

Each stolen brick is worth around £1.50 as they are reclaimed.

Now, the family are keen for anyone with any information which may help catch the offenders to come forward.

The men involved are described as three white men driving an older white van, which now has a smashed windscreen.

The man in the passenger side of the van was bald.

Anyone with any information is urged to call police on 101.