An 81-year-old man says he was punched in the face by a young man in a road rage incident on the Kapiti Coast.

The Waikato man, who didn't want to be named for fear of retribution, says he wants to thank two Otaki school teachers who ran over to help him after getting bashed last Wednesday morning.

The grandfather said he and his partner had spent the previous night in a motel in Otaki.

The Waikato man, who doesn't want to be named, says the impact of the punch sent him flying across onto his partner's lap. Photo / Belinda Feek

However, they found it noisy and went to go find another one on a quieter stretch of road.

As they looked for one on Tasman Rd, which leads to the beach, the man said he was travelling no faster than 10km/h on the left hand side of the road when a car pulled up behind him.

"He tooted his horn, so I tooted back.

"He then pulled around in front of me and blocked the road and started abusing me."

The former truck driver admits there was colourful language between the two.

"I said, 'I don't want to talk to you, just get in your car and go away'. And he kept going and then he bashed me through the window.

"There was blood everywhere, split all my gums from my false teeth cutting my gums."

He said he was hit so hard that he was partly thrown onto his partner's lap on impact. He and his partner were left in shock.

Ther man lifted his foot off the brake after being punched, and his car slowly rolled forward into the back of his attacker's car, which he told him was worth $65,000.

He said two teachers missed the incident "by about 2 seconds" as they were walking up the road, but they got their in time to see him covered in blood.

"I was just thinking, 'What am I going to do' and the people who were there, I just really want to thank them in the paper, they were teachers from Otaki school.

"They were bloody marvellous, yeah. I didn't ring the police, they rung the police for me."

The brutal bashing of the 81-year-old and this photo has been circulating on social media, leaving people outraged.

His attacker, who also had another person in the car, took off straight after the incident.

Fortunately one of the teachers took a photo of the man's car, a red Mitsubishi Evo.

The brutal bashing of the 81-year-old and this photo has been circulating on social media, leaving people outraged.

He said the police told him the other man went to the police station and laid a complaint about him; claiming the 81-year-old had pulled him into the window and scratched his neck.

"But I hadn't even touched him, never laid a finger on him."

Covered in blood and with blurry vision, the man's partner had to drive the couple back home to the Waikato. However, they stopped for a night in Taihape to break up the trip.

He went to a medical centre when the couple got home.

In all his years of driving trucks, it was the first time he'd ever been involved, or even seen, an incident of road rage.

"That's the first time ever. But I can move my jaw now, so at least I can have a pie."

He said the swelling in his face had gone down considerably since last week.

The man's family were angered by the incident.

"You couldn't print what my son said."

The attack also angered people after it was posted on social media.

"The Bloudy [sic] cowards picking on an old man. Respect your elders," said one.

Another said: "Oh no that's beyond horrendous. I hope the offender was caught and locked up!"

Another said: "If someone is able to do something like this, what else are they capable of?! Hope the prick gets caught and dealt to. To the poor chap - I hope you don't lose your faith in people and I hope you have a great Christmas (difficult as it may be)."

The man said he wasn't going to let the attack upset his Christmas and was looking forward to a quiet, relaxing day tomorrow.

A police spokesperson confirmed they had received a complaint and were currently investigating the incident.