A MAN attacked two people with a wheel brace in a “sustained attack”, it is claimed.

Witnesses described seeing the altercation in Furtherwick Road, Canvey, at about 1pm on Friday.

The incident left onlookers shocked by the ferocity of the daylight attack.

One witness, who asked not to be named, said: “As I was parking near Waarden Road, I head a lot of shouting about money.

“There was a man trying to get into a car, and another two men were screaming and shouting.

“They were saying he owed them money, they had got him the job and so forth.

“It was getting very verbal and as the man was trying to get into the car, they kept slamming the door against his leg.

“He finally managed to get in the car and shut the door.

“One of the blokes then punched through the side window and showered him and a woman sitting in the car in glass.”

The witness said the man then got out of the car and got what she thought was a crowbar, but since believes was actually a wheel brace, from the boot and started attacking the two men.

She said: “He didn’t just hit them once and walk off.

“He kept hitting him on the arms and in the head.

“They were punching each other and rolling on the floor.”

During the altercation, one man had his shirt ripped off.

The woman called the police to alert them to the incident, and said she could hear them immediately organising cars to get to the scene.

Other people started to notice what was going on and intervened in the fight to break it up.

She said: “The fight lasted about seven or eight minutes.

“It was awful.

“A man in a pick-up jumped out to try and break it up and other people started realising what was happening and were shouting.

“Eventually it ended and the man with the wheel brace got back in his car and drove off.

“The other man went into a shop.”

She said the police turned up and went looking for the men involved in the incident.

The witness added: “It was really scary and left me quite shaken.”

It is unknown what injuries were sustained in the fight and how serious they were.

A spokesman for Essex Police said: "Police were called to reports of a group of men involved in an altercation on High Street, Canvey Island, at 1pm on July 21.

"Witnesses told officers that three men were involved in a fight. One of the men had an iron bar which he used to attack the other two men.

"The man with the iron bar has been described as white, of large build, 5ft 8ins, wearing a navy t shirt and shorts. He left in a blue Vauxhall Astra."

Anyone with information should call police on 101 or crime fighting charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 111555 or fill in an online form at crimestoppers-uk.org