A MAN brandishing an iron bar threatened a police officer and smashed a number of parked cars after going on the rampage in Great Lever.

A passing motorist spotted the man walking along Green Lane, at 7.55am on Saturday, smashing car windows.

Robert Blears, from Bradford Road, Bolton, parked up and flagged down a police van. With the officer, he approached the man and tried to get him to calm down.

Mr Blears told how the man then ran at the pair with the iron bar and threatened to kill them, before getting in to a white estate car.

The father-of-two said the policeman tried to stop the man by smashing the car window with his truncheon.

The man then drove off and smashed in to Mr Blears' parked car and continued to crash in to a number of parked cars while the police man radioed for assistance.

Mr Blears, aged 40, said: "I had just dropped my wife off at work when I saw a guy smashing the windows of parked cars with a large iron bar.

"I parked up and flagged down a passing police van and we went over to this guy. He said that he would kill us and ran at us both. The man locked himself in his car. He then drove off and tried to run me over. I had to jump on to a wall to get out of the way.

"He then kept weaving all across the road, deliberately smashing in to parked cars."

Green Lane resident Mohammed Khan, whose was damaged, said he was shocked by what happened.

"I didn't see anything but it was a neighbour who told me that somebody had smashed my car. He's driven in to the side of my car and caused thousands of pounds worth of damage. It's just all too much for me to handle."

A 39-year-old man from London has been detained under the Mental Health Act after being arrested on suspicion of aggravated vehicle taking and dangerous driving.