Petrol station boss rushed to hospital after being attacked by a motorbike thug as panic at the pumps boiled over

A PETROL station boss said she was taken to hospital with a head injury after being attacked and racially abused by a moped thug on a forecourt.

Nerali Patel, 38, feared for her life when she claims the six-foot tall man hit her in the face with a petrol nozzle and pushed her while repeatedly called her a “p**i” in a horrifying assault in Belsize Park, North London.

The diminutive mum-of-two was shoved to the floor so hard her head could be seen bouncing off the ground in CCTV footage taken at the pumps amid the UK's fuel chaos.

Passersby stepped in to stop the attack on the 5ft2in tall garage worker, who was left concussed as a man was arrested at the scene just before 2pm on Sunday.

Shockingly, the attack came less than two hours after Nerali was seen trying to break up a fight on the forecourt when a moped driver launched a flying kick at another.

It comes as Britain's petrol pump chaos entered a fifth day, with panicked drivers queuing overnight to refill and Boris Johnson putting the army on standby to drive tankers.

VILE ASSAULT

Nerali, who has served David Beckham at the BP station, said the rider became violent after she stopped the petrol supply at her station.

Nerali, of Croydon, South London, explained the station was a designated site for priority fuel deliveries for emergency service vehicles, known as a Designated Filling Station.

She had asked her staff to close the station after running out of petrol and had put bags over petrol nozzles when two moped riders drove up to her pump at about 1.30pm.

She told The Sun: “I had already put the bags on the nozzles to show they haven’t got petrol left.

Wiith the other hand whacked me on the face and pushed me and I fell right back, hit my head and lacerated my hand

“He called me a f***ing p**i and said ‘I know that you are lying and you have got fuel, you’re a f***ing scumbag’.

“I had my back turned and I just said, ‘listen, this is the last moped, he’s been waiting for half an hour’.

“He continued to swear at me. He’s grabbed then the nozzle and I explained to him that there’s no point being rough with that nozzle because there’s nothing in the tanks.

“Then he’s put the nozzle in my face saying, ‘I’m having it, you f***ing p**i and with the other hand whacked me on the face and pushed me and I fell right back, hit my head and lacerated my hand.

“Members of the public and staff came and there’s a bit of a scuffle, his bike had fallen, he then called the police saying someone had pushed his bike over.

“They just kind of held him back because he kept lunging fowards towards me when I got up.”

'HE HIT ME IN THE FACE'

Nerali a mum to her twin five-year-old boy and girl, continued: “He hit me in the face first, it was with the nozzle. He just saw a small Indian woman and he thought regardless of what happens I’m taking the fuel.

“It was when he went at me with the nozzle I thought, ‘that’s it, I’ve had it now’, because that’s metal.

“It’s like a metal pole in his hand, at that point you think if he gets me in the wrong way.”

The man was arrested a short while later – after HE called the police when his bike was knocked over while being restrained by members of the public.

FORECOURT BRAWL

But cops handcuffed him and put him in a police van after being informed of the assault on Nerali.

The chilling attack came just an hour and a half after she was seen, wearing a pink top, on footage trying to break up brawling moped riders.

She added:"It was a very bad day.They were fighting amongst themselves as one of the moped guys had jumped the queue.

"The other moped guys stormed the forecourt to tackle him, and there was a bit of a scuffle.

"I tried to calm the situation down, as did my manager. One of the moped guys did a flying kick."

Speaking this morning, she said she had been at work for more than 24 hours straight with no sleep.

A tanker arrived at the petrol station around “11pm last night, with drivers immediately flocking to fill up and staff forced to carry on working.

She added: “We’ve been working non-stop since Friday. We were going home for a couple of hours’ sleep and had to go back to work.

“It was stressful for us and we were not getting any joy and were reluctant to put a cap on Saturday.

'SHOCKING'

“It was just shocking to be honest with you. He was a big man, he had a melmet on and it was just me on my own, I wasn’t aggressive or rude.

“I went to A&E and they said ‘you’re not going to need stitches’.

“I probably had a concussion, I did vomit afterwards and I’ve had a severe headache since yesterday."

She was back at work on Monday to help her elderly parents Kirit, 72, and Painuka, 70, run the family business.

A Met Police spokesman said: "Police were called at 13:48hrs on Sunday, 26 September following reports that a man had been assaulted at a petrol station on Haverstock Hill, NW3. Officers attended.

"No injuries were reported.

"One man was arrested on suspicion of assault and a racially aggravated public order offence.  He has been released under investigation.

"Enquiries into the circumstances are ongoing."

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