A GRANDMOTHER said it was just “instinct” to fight the would-be carjacker who jumped in her unlocked car at a supermarket petrol station.

Lynne Kiff, 61, is reliving the moment she fought off a “menacing” man who attacked her husband after failing to steal their car, so people stay “vigilant” at all times.

It was a calm Saturday (April 1) afternoon at a packed petrol station in Morrisons, Chingford Mount Road, Chingford, when a man in a black hoodie jumped into Mrs Kiff’s driving seat.

Her husband, Peter, 67, had just joined the back of a long queue to pay leaving Mrs Kiff, a retired builder, to wait in their Vauxhall Zafira.

As the grandmother-of-six waited she noticed a “suspect” man looking “odd” as hanged around the car wash.

East London and West Essex Guardian Series:

“I’m not going down without a fight"

The man then met her gaze before turning to walk past her car and around the van at the next pump until he was out of sight.

Mrs Kiff assumed he was getting into another car when the driver’s door burst open.

She said: “We had just dropped off our granddaughter when we went to pick up some bits from Morrisons.

"Usually I lock the car after my husband gets out, but it was a sunny day, four o’clock in the afternoon and that garage was packed.”

Naturally thinking her husband had just returned she turned to see the same man from moments before.

Mrs Kiff said: “He had one hand on the wheel and the other on the ignition when he said ‘get the f*** out the car.’”

Repeating his threat a second time, Mrs Kiff said the man’s voice became a “menacing" growl just quieter than a shout.

Without thought, Mrs Kiff said “no” and leaned over to grab his hand on the ignition, squeezing it as hard as she could.

She said: “I was squeezing, squeezing, squeezing and turning my hand outwards to bend his hand.”

Repeating the threat a further two times Mrs Kiff said he then jumped out the car after a lengthy struggle.

East London and West Essex Guardian Series:

The car was "rocking"

Mrs Kiff said police officers later told her the car was visibly “rocking” on CCTV as the pair wrestled inside.

Banging on the windows to get her husband’s attention, the couple managed to call police just after 4.15pm, who arrived shortly to reports of a common assault and an attempted car theft.

Seeing the man still lurking in the supermarket car park, Mrs Kiff said her husband gave chase to confront the man, who began punching and kicking him to the ground before running away.

Mrs Kiff described the man as white, late 20s to early 30s, slim, about 5ft 8ins and “scruffy looking”.

The grandmother said it was “not bravery” but just an “instinct” to fight the man.

She added: "I’ve never tolerated bullies, I’m 61 but I’ll still give as good as I can.

“I’m not going down without a fight.

“I was shaky afterwards and even now I can hear his voice going round and round in my brain.

“Its making me not sleep properly, that voice is in a groove in my head.

“Afterwards I realised as I reached across him he could have had a knife in his left pocket and just stabbed me.

“Anything can happen it’s so scary for everybody.

“I just want people to stay vigilant, don't leave your children in the back and make sure you lock the door and take your keys with you."

Police have made no arrests and enquiries continue.