A MAN knocked out by up to 20 attackers has thanked the door staff who may have saved his life.

Scott Harron suffered a broken nose, black eyes and a bent tooth in Bournemouth.

Door staff from Bliss, Chilli White and the Mary Shelley pub rushed to help, despite being outnumbered.

Scott, 18, from Parkstone in Poole said: “Without them I might not be here. They put their lives in jeopardy to save me. I want to say thank you.”

The doormen usually alert police to street scuffles using the Town Watch system.

But staff from Bliss, employed by Bridgegate Security, issued a ‘Code Black’ after seeing Scott getting knocked out at a corner between Bliss and Chilli White.

Acting head doorman and former Royal Marine Iain McKai, 40, was first on the scene.

Iain, from Bournemouth said: “One of the males went down and they started to stamp on him and kick him in the head.

“We couldn’t stand back and allow that sort of behaviour, a large group of around 20 against a small group.

“The aggression in the attack was extreme. The male was unconscious and a friend was trying to drag him away.”

He grabbed one attacker and others from the group turned on him. He said the doormen detained six people and police later arrested three more.

Bliss doorman Richard Sydenham, 22, from Winton, a former 6 Rifles TA soldier, held one man who tried to kick a fellow doorman in the face.

He said: “The group was trying to stamp on the lad whilst he was on the floor. He was a bit of a mess. We were outnumbered – there were about 20 of them.

“Every single member of the team worked together for the safety of each other and the safety of the public.”

Bliss doorman Neil Haydon, 30, from Cranborne, said: “The odds were ridiculous.

“You don’t often see that many against only a couple of lads.

“The guy went down and they carried on kicking him and that’s when we ran to help.

“I pushed people out of the way. Someone punched me and I went down and got straight back up.”

A doorman from Chilli White, said: “I grabbed |hold of the main guy and one of |his friends grabbed me round the throat.”

He added: “We are there for people’s safety. We do this work week in, week out.”

The arrested men were released on police bail. Dorset Police said no-one had yet been charged.