A DARWEN teenager has told how his friends were attacked by a group of men who followed them in a car from the town centre.

Damien Farrimond, 19, was punched to the back of his head after he got out of the blue Citroen Saxo, driven by his friend Chris Nicholson, 20, outside his East Park Avenue home.

Police are investigating the incident in which five Asian men followed the car from Darwen town centre before assaulting Damien as he got out soon after midnight on Friday.

The teenager, who is a music student at Blackburn College, said: "At first I thought they were just mucking around, trying to race us up the road.

"But Chris slowed down which seemed to anger them because they didn't get the reaction they wanted, and they started shouting abuse at us.

"When we stopped, they drove right alongside so I couldn't get out. But they then moved along a bit.

"I got out and thought I was okay because I recognised one of the men, but there were five of them and they were all older and bigger than me.

"I tried to talk to them but they wouldn't listen then one punched the back of my head and I fell to my knees.

"They were all trying to open Chris's door to get him out too and I became scared for him."

The attackers then fled in their Volkswagen Golf Mark 4 after Damien's dad arrived home from walking their dogs.

Inspector Stuart Bruce, of Blackburn and Darwen police, said: "An incident was reported to us and there are still several lines of inquiry being looked at to try to make some progress."