A PENSIONER was punched to the floor and robbed in a ‘cowardly’ attack.

Police said the 71-year-old man heard a noise outside his home in Barley Close, off Johnston Street, Blackburn, on Sunday night.

When he went out to investigate, around 10.30pm, he was punched in the face on his own driveway, and knocked to the floor.

He suffered a cut to his head.

The victim told detectives he believed his attacker spoke in broken English and demanded ‘money’.

The attacker searched the man’s back pockets while he was on the ground, stole £30, and ran off.

DI Mark Winstanley said: “This is an unusual, but isolated incident. It is a cowardly attack.

“We would appeal to anybody who might have seen somebody running away to contact the police.”