is dave r in melbourne????

Police are searching for a man who bit off another man's nose after a ramraid at Abbotsford, in Melbourne's north.

Police say a man smashed a stolen car into a Johnston Street tool shop at 4:00am and tried to steal the till.

He was confronted by a resident and reversed the car across the road, smashing into another shop.

The resident tried to stop the thief from escaping, but the man bit the end off his nose and fled.

Police found the piece of nose and the 49-year-old man is undergoing surgery at St Vincent's Hospital.

The thief is believed to have been wearing light coloured jeans and a white t-shirt.