A HAVE-A-GO hero suffered serious head injures when he confronted burglars at his city home.

The man in his 60s attempted to stop the thieves stealing his moped from his home in Cornmeadow Lane, Claines.

He tried to prevent them driving away in a van with his moped inside but they refused to stop and as a result he fell from the vehicle, suffering serious head and chest injuries.

The victim has been in hospital since the incident at around 2am on Sunday.

Yesterday neighbours described him as a lovely man, and said they were worried about burglaries in the area as police now step up patrols.

He was awoken in the night after hearing noise outside his property and went outside, finding the suspects removing a Honda moped from his property and putting it into a white Ford transit van.

As the men tried to leave in the van, he attempted to stop them but they continued to drive off, taking the victim – who was holding onto the vehicle – with them before he fell off.

Police said his injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.

The Honda Express moped was bright orange with white mudguards and a wired basket at the front. The last four digits of the registration number are 981W.

Yesterday, Cornmeadow Lane residents said they were shocked by what had happened.

One resident said: "It is just awful. I hope they catch them."

Other residents said they felt there had been an increase in crime in the area in recent years, with many taking precautions including having extra security fitted at their homes.

READ MORE: Man was seriously injured after confronting burglars

Sheila Farthing wrote on social media: "Burglary is becoming so common now in our area, this one sounds especially nasty. Do hope the gentleman recovers well."

Stu Green added: "It's become a bit of a crime hotspot in that area."

Inspector David Troth from West Mercia Police said: "This was a particularly nasty incident which has left the victim seriously injured and shaken and a number of enquiries are now ongoing to trace those responsible.

"Following this incident, we have increased patrols in the area and want to reassure the local community that we take reports of this nature very seriously.

"As with all house burglaries, we will be using a breadth of resources to identify the offenders and I would appeal to anyone with any information that could help us to identify them and bring them to justice to please get in touch."

Insp Troth added that he would advise anyone thinking of being a have-a-go hero to not put themselves in danger.

"We advise the public that not to confront individuals who are involved in criminal behaviour as this could lead to you or another coming to harm," he said. "Criminals don't want to get caught and will take significant risks to prevent them from being apprehended.

"In circumstances such as these, we ask that rather than confronting the offenders, you obtain as much detail as possible of the offenders and any offending vehicles, and call 999 as soon as you can.

"West Mercia Police has identified burglary of homes as one of their policing priorities and South Worcestershire police have an extensive plan in place for 2019 which includes working with the public and our partner agencies to tackle it."

Anyone with any information on the incident or who may have seen anything suspicious in the area at the time is asked to call police on 101 quoting incident number 22/8263/19, or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.