A MOTORCYCLIST says he is “lucky not to be blind” after a van driver threw an acidic liquid in his face.

Maurice Perry, of Oakfield Lane, Wilmington, was driving along Birchwood Road in Swanley at around 5.45pm last Wednesday (November 19) when a white van suddenly emerged from a side road.

It caused him to swerve and almost fall off his motorcycle, so when it stopped in the WJ King garage at the side of the road the 53-year-old knocked on the driver’s window to tell him what had happened.

When the window wound down, Mr Perry lifted the visor of his crash-helmet expecting to have a conversation - what he got was a face full of a liquid believed to be industrial bleach or battery acid.

He said: “I thought the driver was going to apologise, but as I came to the door he squirted a substance into my face and then pulled away.

“I collapsed on to the floor in a lot of pain. I was worried that I had been blinded.”

Passers-by came to the aid of Mr Perry, washing the harmful substance off his face with water and calling an ambulance.

He was treated at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup and released the same night.

The married school site manager said: “The doctors said the substance was either industrial bleach or battery acid. It caused burning and blistering around my eyes.

“They said I’m lucky not to be blind.”

Mr Perry’s injuries are healing and doctors believe there will be no permanent damage.

He believes the van was a white Ford Transit and that there were two men inside, both in their mid to late 20s.

He says he “wants them to get caught before they hurt anyone else” and is worried “their next victim might not come away with their eyesight.”

Kent Police’s PC Bev Morrison, investigating, said: “Other motorists will have seen the van even if they didn’t witness the assault, and I would ask them to please contact us with any information to help us find the driver.”

To help call Kent Police on 01732 379217 or Kent Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111, or email appeals.westkent@kent.pnn.police.uk