Six men have been charged with affray after a violent fight and stabbing in the early hours of Sunday.

Shocked neighbours heard shouting and saw men fighting in the middle of London Road, Stoneleigh, opposite the Nonsuch Park gate near the war memorial, at 4am.

A man was stabbed in the chest and two other men received head wounds during the fight between two families, which reportedly spilled out of a driveway.

Police, including some officers wearing gloves, were still at the cordoned-off house, 161 London Road, last night gathering evidence.

A neighbour, who did not want to be named, told the Epsom Guardian she heard swearing, shouting and fighting so looked out of the window at 4am on Sunday.

She said: "I was quite frightened. They were fighting in the middle of the road. I thought one of them was going to get run over."

The woman said she saw a man pushed down to the ground at the bend and two other men fighting.

She said: "You don’t want to be fighting in a road like that. It would only take one lorry and all of them would be dead."

Fearing for their safety, the woman rang the police who had already received calls and offered reassurances.

London Road residents Michael, 21, Shaun, 20, and Dean Hays, 46, who live at the cordoned-off house, as well as Ashley, 22, and Adam Jeeves, 20, who live nearby on the same road, and Esher man Richard Roll, 36, have all been charged with affray.

Michael Hays has also been charged with assault occasioning grievous bodily harm and a seventh man was arrested but then released without further action being taken.

Earlier police had said the stabbed 50-year-old as well as 21- and 46-year-olds with head injuries were among those arrested.

A neighbour, who declined to give his name, said: "What I heard is that they were two families who were quite close, both in the building trade, but there had been an argument between the families.

"I think it was a mixture of them all that got hurt."

Police were seen entering and searching the house at 7.30pm yesterday before driving off in a police van and two white vans shortly afterwards.

A family living in the road said they were shocked to wake up and find the police cordon outside on Sunday morning.

A man said: "It’s a bit shocking for Stoneleigh. You don’t expect this."

Richard Rolls, of Cranbrook Drive, Esher, and the other five men have been released on bail to appear at South East Surrey Magistrates Court on April 30.