A 25-YEAR-OLD man who sustained serious head injuries and was left lying in a Newbridge road is not in a life-threatening condition in hospital, police said.

The man from Abercarn was found face down in Central Avenue, Pantside, with head injuries at 10.15pm on Thursday night.

Paramedics spent almost two hours stabilising him before he was taken to the Royal Gwent hospital with suspected head injuries. His condition is described as 'not life threatening’.

Gwent police said they had no idea how he received the injuries and were looking at all theories including that he had been the victim of a hit and run.

The injured man was named locally as Anthony Ford who had recently moved to Abercarn from Blackwood.

Mr Ford, who witnesses said had been unconscious at the scene for between 20 and 40 minutes, was receiving treatment at the Royal Gwent Hospital with suspected head injuries.

Shocked residents said they came out of their homes around 10.30pm on Thursday to find Mr Ford face down on the road "as though he was standing to attention".

They said there was a large amount of blood coming from his head as he lay motionless on the ground.

One neighbour, who didn’t want to be named, said: "His breathing was horrendous and we thought he was going to die.

"Another neighbour had come out and put a blanket over him and my partner and a few other residents were stopping traffic at each end of the road.

"There were loads of paramedics and police.

"The paramedics put drips into him, I was holding one for them and I heard them say they were giving him saline, and glucose because his blood sugars were low.

"When he came round he was just grunting and quite aggressive.

"It took six paramedics and police officers to hold him down and put him on the stretcher.

"Even when we went back inside we could still hear him shouting from the back of the ambulance.

"He wasn’t in a good way you could see his eyes rolling in the back of his head."

Another resident said she knew Mr Ford but didn’t recognise him at first such was the extent of his injuries.

She said she was surprised he had been up that road as he didn’t know many people in the area.

Another resident described the incident as "really, really weird".

"We had the blinds closed to try and keep the warm in so the first we knew of it was when we could see the blue flashing lights.

"My first thought was he might have been running down the hill and fallen but the way he was lying, you wouldn’t fall like that.

"We didn’t hear a bump or a screech of brakes."

Anyone who knows what happened should call 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.