An elderly patient brandishing a garden fork burst into a violent rage at a doctor's surgery today and smashed up four cars outside.

The man, in his 60s, exploded with anger while visiting his GP before going on a rampage in the surgery's car park.

He escaped after the outburst and detectives launched a manhunt.

The man was visiting the Ball Tree Surgery in Western Road North, Sompting, when the incident happened shortly after 9.20am.

Staff were too shocked to comment on the incident later but the surgery's close protection officer, Mark Lynch, said a "violent incident" took place inside the surgery.

He said: "He is still at large at the moment. All I can say is it's an upset patient.

"Whether he got bad news or wanted something and couldn't get it, he has gone funny inside the building and outside."

Mr Lynch said the surgery was open for business as normal when the incident happened, with members of the public in the waiting room.

He added: "They are shaken up in there but no one has been hurt. Police are looking for him at the moment."

Witnesses said the patient walked methodically around the car park, smashing the windscreens and back windows of an X-registered Skoda, a Y-registered Ford Focus, an X-registered Ford Focus and a W-registered Peugeot 306.

Carol Connelly, who was with friends in her flat opposite the surgery, said: "We didn't see him do the front window but we saw him bash the window of the surgery and he just went from car to car and bashed them all.

"It was a fork he used, a dirty old gardening fork. We were amazed at what he was doing. He was an old boy, probably about 70.

"We didn't see any of the doctors come out until about five minutes later.

"He was very determined and used a lot of force. He took the fork with him and he just walked down the road, holding the fork.

"It was someone with a grievance, obviously."

Mrs Connelly described the man as having grey hair in a scruffy, short cut and wearing old clothes.