A pensioner found himself trapped in a 10-minute stand-off with an angry fox in woodland near New Addington last week.

Gerry Weston-White, 76, growled at the "crazy" animal and waved a stick to keep it at bay after it bit his trouser leg..

He was left so shocked by the incident last Wednesday at 2.30pm in Frith Wood, next to Featherbed Lane, that he was unable to sleep that night.

Mr Weston-White said: "I was approaching a clearing near the scout camp when I felt something tug my trouser leg. I thought it was bramble, but then I looked down and there was a fox.

"I couldn't get away from him. He never moved more than six feet away from me for about eight minutes and was about two feet away from me most of the time."

Thinking fast, Mr Weston-White grabbed a stick from the floor which he used to defend himself.

He said: "I caught him lightly on the nose a couple of times but it didn't keep him off. I was swinging this stick at him and growling to try to scare him off.

"He was even biting on the stick. By the end of it I was really hot and sweaty."

Eventually the fox ran off, leaving his victim very confused. Mr Weston-White walks through the woodland from his home in Shirley Hills to Warlingham around three times per week, but this is the first time he has come across anything like this.

He secaped unharmed but told the Advertiser a child may not be so lucky.

"That night I couldn't sleep," he said. "I kept thinking about it. It was quite a shock. If it had attacked a child it could have been a lot more serious."

But the encounter hasn't put Mr Weston-White off his regular walks and he was back on track last Friday.

He was, however well prepared, and said: "I took fat balls, like the birds eat, in case he was hungry. I wasn't worried.

"I made sure I had a good stick with me, though."

THERE are a number of theories as to what may have caused the fox to launch its attack.

Mr Weston-White believes it may have been rabies causing him to act erratically as he had a "mangey tail".

However, a spokesman from the London Wildcare Trust in Beddington said: "I have never heard of a fox attacking someone, it is very rare. But there are cubs being born at the moment so it is possible it was defending its territory."