A woman is urging witnesses to come forward after two men wearing balaclavas on an "illegal off-road bike" threatened her and smashed her car wing mirror on a road in Oldham.

The 47-year-old said just before 10am on Monday she was waiting to turn right onto Keb Lane in Bardsley when two men on an off-road bike without a license plate came towards her “head on” from Ashton Road forcing her to slam on her breaks and beep her horn.

She said she carried on turning right into Keb Lane and the bike “spun round and came after her”.

It then “skidded” across the road in front of her car forcing her to stop. The two men riding the bike, who were wearing balaclavas but no helmets, then came to the side of her car.

The woman said as she went to open her car door one of the men raised his fist and began “screaming and shouting”.

She said: “I was going to get out but then he went to punch me. He said, ‘Come here I’ll smash your face in’.

"I shut my door and locked it and then he started punching out at my car and smashed my wing mirror. It was really intimidating I was on my own."

A man from Oldham waste services left his bin lorry to check on the woman and at that point the men on the bike drove off.

Two other men, one who had been walking along the road at the time and another who had been driving down Ashton Road, also went to check on her.

The woman said she was “shook up” following the incident and is “worrying” as she uses the route regularly for work and is concerned the men on the bike will recognise her car.

“All the routes on Keb Lane are dead ends and they do come up and down this lane on these illegal bikes frequently,” she added.

The woman is calling on the men who witnessed the incident and came to her aid to contact the police.

She said: “It’s not just me that it’s happening to. It’s going on around here all the time.”

Greater Manchester Police has confirmed it is investigating the incident which comes just weeks after councillors in Oldham sent a letter to the chief superintendent from GMP’s Oldham district, Phillip Hutchison demanding a targeted strategy to deal with off-road bikes in the borough.

The letter by councillors claims the bikes are being used illegally “as part of drug-dealing, antisocial behaviour, vandalisation, and threatening behaviour towards local residents”.

Saddleworth West and Lees Cllr Sam Al-Hamdani says he receives “almost daily reports” of illegal off-road bikes and that residents have begun to give up reporting incidents to the police as they are not getting a response.

In response to the letter Chief Superintendent Phillip Hutchinson has appointed a single point of contact for councillors and urged residents to continue reporting illegal bikers.

He said: "The nuisance of off-road bikes is something that our neighbourhood officers are committed to tackling, including the offences that can be associated with them: anti-social behaviour, drug-dealing, and theft will always be robustly dealt with.

"I appreciate that people have concerns about the bikes, and I would ask residents to keep reporting, as it helps us to build our intelligence going forward and enables us to identify suspects.

"I have appointed a single point of contact for local councillors, and we will continue to work closely with partners in the community in order to keep our streets safe from criminality."

Chadderton Cllr Chris Goodwin added that Oldham Council is “fully aware” of the growing concern among residents and is working closely with GMP to tackle the issue of illegal off-road bikes.