A CHARITY collector who dressed up as a dragon was assaulted while he was raising money for a hospice.

The man, who was collecting in Burnley town centre on Saturday afternoon, was punched in the face by his assailant who then fled.

The attacker was later spotted on CCTV and spoken to by police, but was not arrested.

Police said they were called to deal with the attack when a charity collector dressed as a dragon and a friend were collecting money with a bucket.

The victim made a complaint to Charter Walk security who put out a radio description of the attacker.

The police spoke to the attacker after he was spotted by controllers in the CCTV room.

The collector decided not to take the matter any further.

Chris Gribben, general manager at Charter Walk shopping centre, said: "During the course of the afternoon a complaint was made by a collector who escorted a man dressed in a green costume, which could have been a dragon.

"They made a complaint that he had been assaulted by a male."

The police were called and a description was called into the radio and security were on hand to help the police if needed.

Mr Gribben said: "A description was given over the radio and the controllers in the CCTV room picked up the message and actively looked for people matching that description and found them in the shopping centre.

"He was then identified in person and stopped and spoken to and the complainant decided they did not want to take any further action."

Burnley town centre officer PC Faz Mahmed confirmed the police had dealt with the incident on Saturday afternoon.