DISTRAUGHT parents have spoke of their anger after a hit-and-run motorist left their son for dead.

And they called on the driver to give himself up to the police.

Andrew Moss, aged 22, was left unconscious in St Helens Road, Daubhill, after the car which hit him sped off.

Now, as he recovered in hospital with a fractured skull, his parents branded the driver "disgusting".

"For all the person who was driving that car knew, Andrew was dead - and that person drove off," said his father John.

Andrew was crossing the road to wait for a friend who had gone for a taxi after a night out at the Morris Dancers pub in Morris Green Lane when he was hit by a dark coloured car at 12.15am on Friday. Witnesses told police that the car stopped briefly after the accident near to the junction with Morris Green Lane. It then sped off towards Bolton with damage to the front bumper and a cracked windscreen.

Andrew, a former Mount St Joseph's School pupil, was spotted lying in the road by his friend who was returning in a taxi to pick him up.

He was taken to the Royal Bolton Hospital where it was discovered he had a fractured skull. Andrew, an accountant at Greater Manchester Waste's depot in Higher Swan Lane, Daubhill, regained consciousness while his parents were at his bedside.

Back at the family's home in Normanby Street, Morris Green, Mr Moss said: "I'm very angry and upset that someone would just do that to my son, but we're relieved that he wasn't more seriously hurt.

"He's very lucky he hasn't been killed.

"He was left lying in the road and could have been hit by another car coming along the road."

Andrew's mother, Barbara, said: "I just hope this person has a conscience and turns himself into the police.

"They could have killed him - and they just drove off.

"Nobody deserves to be treated like that."

Police carried out door to door inquiries in the Daubhill area and interviewed witnesses in the hunt for the driver.

Sgt Stephen Foster, of the road policing unit, appealed for anyone with information to come forward to help the investigation.

He said: "We are doing everything we can to catch the person responsible for doing this

"It seems at this stage that the car stopped very briefly and then drove off at speed towards Bolton.

"This young man is lucky he is still alive."

Sgt Foster appealed for any businesses with CCTV systems which may have caught the car driving along St Helens Road to contact police.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the road policing unit on 0161 856 7273 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.